I 


A  STUDY 

OF  THE 


WINSTON-SATCEM 
SCHOOLS 


L.  A.  WILLIAMS 
J.  II.  JOHNSTON 


Printed  at  the  High  School  Press 

1918 


A  STUDY 

OF  THE 


WINSTON-SALEM 
SCHOOLS 


J.  H.  JOHNSTON 


r' 


Printed  at  the  High  School  Press 

1918 


PREFACE 


The  work  of  the  Home-County  Study  Clubs  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  has  attracted  the  attention  of 
thoughtful  people  all  over  the  country.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  estimate  the  good  that  has  been  done  by  these  intimate 
studies  of  home-county  conditions  by  students  who  counted 
it  a  privilege  to  do  their  part  in  helping  their  county  find 
itself. 

Forsyth  County  and  Winston-Salem  desired  a  survey 
even  more  intimate.  We  wanted  the  University  to  send  us 
men  to  go  over  the  field  and  tell  us  '  'where  we  lead,  where 
we  lag  and  the  way  out."  The  request  was  presented  to 
President  Graham.  He  gladly  fell  in  with  our  plan  and  made 
it  possible  for  Winston-Salem  and  Forsyth  County  to  have 
the  most  complete  survey  yet  made  in  the  State. 

.  The  survey  was  made  by  Prof.  E.  C.  Branson,  Dr. 
C  harks 'Lee  Raper  and  Dr.  L.  A.  Williams.  It  will  be  pub- 
Jished,4n-two  parts.  The  first  part  will  contain  two  sections. 
The1  -first'  section  is  The  Social  and  Economic  Survey  of  the 
County  by  Prof.  Branson,  and  the  second  section  is  the  In- 
dustrial Survey  of  the  City  by  Dr.  Raper.  The  second  part 
is  presented  in  this  volume  and  contains  the  Educational 
Study  of  the  Schools  of  Winston-Salem  by  Dr.  Williams. 

Dr.  Williams  came  to  Winston-Salem  in  February,  1917, 
and  made  a  personal  inspection  of  the  school  system.  Every 
opportunity  was  afforded  him  that  the  facts  might  be  known. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  dictate  in  any  way  what  should  be 
put  in  or  what  should  be  left  out.  All  available  records  were 
placed  at  his  disposal.  The  study  was  made  with  the  hearty 
approval  of  the  School  Board  and  the  co-operation  of  the  Su- 
perintendent, principals  and  teachers. 

The  delay  in  printing  the  results  of  the  study  has  been 
brought  about  by  a  combination  of  circumstances  which  we 
could  not  control.  While  the  public  has  not  seen  the  find- 
ings, they  have  been  known  to  the  school  officials  and  we 
have  already  acted  on  many  of  them.  Many  more  are  under 
consideration.  The  city  has  already  greatly  benefitted  by 
the  work  of  Dr.  Williams  and  Dr.4  J.  Henry  Johnston,  who 
ably  assisted  Dr.  Williams  in  many  ways. 

It  is  the  intention  of  the  school  officers  to  continue  this 
study  and  have  Dr.  Williams  make  an  examination  of  the 
teaching  results  of  the  schools. 

We  desire  to  express  our  hearty  thanks  to  the  State  Uni- 
versity and  to  Dr.  Williams  in  particular  for  what  has  al- 
raady  baen  done  for  our  schools.  R.  H.  LATHAM. 

Winston-Salem,  N.  C.,  July  18,  1918. 


Of 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


I.     HISTORICAL--. ...-  1-3 

II.     ORGANIZATION 4-28 

The  Board  of  School  Control - 4-  9 

Recommendations 9 

The  Chief  Executive 9-11 

Recommendations 11-12 

The  Minor  Executives 12-15 

Recommendations 16 

Other  Officials 1 16-19 

Health  Officer 16 

Attendance  Officer 17 

Treasurer. . 18 

Janitors 18 

Repair  Man .18-19 

Reco  mmendation  s 19 

The  System - 19-26 

A  Particular  Problem.. .1 24-25 

Recommendations 25-26 

Summary 26-28 

III.  THE  SCHOOL  PLANT 29-39 

The  Buildings 29-30 

The  Sites 30-31 

Playground  Apparatus 31 

Teaching  Apparatus 31-33 

Heating  and  Ventilation 33-34 

Janitor  Service 34 

Toilets - 34 

Drinking  Fountains 35 

Swimming  Pool 35 

Repairs 35 

The  High  School  Situation . 36-38 

Recommendations.  _  .  I 38-39 

IV.  THE  PUPILS 40-51 

Numbers . 40-43 

In  School  and  Out 43-44 

Placement 44-50 

Recommendation 1 51 

V.     THE  TEACHING  STAFF  AND  SUPERVISORY  OFFICERS.52-75 

Tabulation , 52-56 

Explanation  of  the  Tables 57 

Experience »"...   57 


vl 


A73658 


Appointment 57-58 

Qualifications  of  Teachers  for  Appointment 58 

Salaries 59-61 

Hours  of  Teaching 61-62 

Supervision ____62 

Teacher  Rating 62-63 

Teacher  Promotion __63 

Teachers'  Meetings 63-64 

Special  Supervisors 64 

Size  of  Classes 64 

The  Negro  Schools 65 

Congestion ___66-71 

Tables . 67-70 

Reorganization 71-72 

Living  Conditions  for  Teachers 72 

Pensions  for  Teachers 72-73 

.  Recommendations 73-75 

VI,  FINANCES—., ----76-91 

Basis  of  Support 76-82 

Per  Pupil  Costs '_ 83-86 

Distribution . 81-88 

Building  Costs 1 88-89 

Future  Policy 10-91 

Recommendations 91 

VII.  HIGH  LIGHTS..  -_92-93 


ERRATA 

Page  14,  last  paragraph — Insert  keeping  after  record,  in  "any  amount  of  record,"  etc. 
Page  15,  last  paragraph— Insert  is  after  this,  in  sentence  "In  many  ways  this,"  etc. 
Page  18,  first  paragraph — The  sentence,  "Report  for  five  months  only,"  refers  to  1916-17. 

Page  31,  second  paragraph,  second  sentence  should  read:     "The  site  at  the  East  End  is  on 
the  very  outer  edge  of  its  district  as  a  map  of  the  district  shows." 

Page  31,  third  paragraph,  insert  between  Oak  Street  and  Columbia  Heights  the  word  and. 
Page  71,  paragraph  before  Reorganization — Insert  is  after  This. 

Page  76,  third  paragraph,  in  the  sentence,   "In  the  end  insufficient  maintenance  funds  for 
schools,"  etc,,  omit  second  "funds  for  schools." 

Page  83,  first  paragraph,  in  the  sentence  "Are  the  children"  etc,  omit  second   "with  chil- 
dren." 


NOTE — There'are  a  number  of  errors  of  spelling  which  were  not  noticed  until  after  the 
printing  had  been  done.  The  school  print  shop  assumes  responsibility  for  all  such  mistakes. 
Dr.  Williams  is  responsible  only  for  the  content  of  the  Survey. 


I.    HISTORICAL 


Perhaps  it  will  not  be  entirely  out  of  place  in  this  study 
to  review  hastily  the  development  of  public  schools  in  Wins- 
ton-Salem.  Any  such  a  review  must  necessarily  be  brief  and 
in  particular  when,  as  in  this  case,  it  can  serve  only  as  a 
background  for  the  much  more  compelling  and  interesting 
present  situation. 

As  early  as  January  29,  1875,  certain  public-minded  citi- 
zens of  the  town  of  Winston  began  to  discuss  the  education- 
al interests  of  the  town.  They  organized  themselves  into  a 
working  committee  and  proposed  to  see  what  could  be  done 
about  establishing  a  public  school  system  for  the  education 
of  all  classes  in  Winston.  Prominent  among  these  citizens 
was  Rev.  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  whom  all  North  Carolinians  de- 
light to  honor  and  who  had  so  ably  served  as  the  first  state 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 

The  necessary  machinery  was  set  in  motion  and  a  bill 
introduced  into  the  Legislature  amending  the  Town  Charter 
so  as  to  permit  the  citzens  of  Winston  to  tax  themselves  for 
public  schools.  This  bill  failed  to  pass,  but  in  1879  the  Town 
Charter  was  amended  and  contained  seven  sections  relating 
to  the  organization  of  Graded  Schools  in  Winston. 

The  section  provided  that  separate  schools  be  established 
for  the  two  races;  that  the  money  raised  by  taxation  be  used 
only  to  pay  the  salaries  of  teachers;  that  the  town  could  not 
incur  any  interest  bearing  debt  for  the  support  of  the  schools; 
that  tuition  charges  to  the  children  entitled  to  attend  should 
not  exceed  fifty  cents  per  year;  that  children  outside  of  the 
district  might  attend  by  paying  tuition  charges;  that  buildings 
and  equipment  must  be  provided  by  voluntary  subscription; 
that  the  school  tax  should  not  exceed  twenty  cents  on  the 
hundred  dollars  of  assessed  property,  and  that  25%  of  the 
amount  derived  from  fines  and  forfeitures  be  paid  to  the 
Graded  School  Fund;  that  the  citizens  in  the  town  must  be 
allowed  to  vote  whether  or  not  they  wished  the  schools  es- 
tablished; that  the  same  question  of  schools  or  no  schools 
could  be  submitted  annually  to  the  voters. 

The  managing  board  was  to  be  a  body  of  five  citizens, 
three  chosen  by  the  people  and  two  by  the  Town  Commiss- 
ioners from  their  own  number.  This  board  was  to  be  known 
as  the  Winston  Commissioners  of  Graded  Schools  and  was  to 
''establish,  as  soon  as  possible,  and  keep  open  a  system  of 
Graded  Schools  for  the  Town. ' '  It  was  empowered,  '  'to  provide 


suitable  buildings,  furniture  and  apparatus  for  the  same  by 
voluntary  effort;  to  select  teachers  and  to  dimiss  them  for 
cause;  to  fix  their  salaries;  to  aid  them  in  the  establishment 
of  grades  and  the  enforcement  of  discipline;  to  abate  nuisan- 
ces at  school;  to  admit  pupils  from  without  the  corporation 
on  payment  of  tution  fees;  to  visit  the  schools  regularly  for 
inspection,  and  to  do  all  other  acts  pertaining  to  the  office 
for  the  good  and  success  of  said  schools. "  They  were  to 
serve  without  salary  but  might  employ  a  secretary  and  pay 
$30.00  therefor. 

The  legal  limitations  by  which  the  sites  and  buildings  had 
to  be  provided  by  voluntary  subscriptions  made  necessary  a 
further  modification  of  the  charter  in  1881  whereby  these 
necessities  could  be  provided  from  the  tax  money.  Under  this 
provision  the  schools  were  finally  organized  in  May,  1884,  but 
did  not  open  until  September  of  that  same  year. 

At  once  the  process  of  organizing  a  public  school  system 
began.  The  West  End  Building  was  erected,  teachers  were 
examined  and  appointed,  a  course  of  study  was  drawn  up  and 
adopted.  With  J.  L.  Tomlinson  as  the  first  Superintendent 
was  associated  Charles  D.  Mclver  as  Assistant  Superinten- 
dent and  J.  Y.  Joyner  as  teacher  of  the  seventh  grade.  Thus 
did  Wmston  from  the  very  beginning  establish  a  policy  of 
selecting  only  the  best  teachers  obtainable. 

The  school  commissioners  had  been  given  far-reaching 
powers  in  controlling  the  schools  and  all  matters  concerning 
changes  in  the  course  of  study,  textbooks  and  methods  to  be 
used  in  teaching,  as  well  as  in  the  choice  of  school  sites, 
erection  of  buildings  and  raising  of  school  funds,  had  to  be 
considered  by  them. 

Nor  were  the  colored  children  and  school  patrons  neg- 
lected. At  the  same  time  the  organization  of  the  white 
schools  was  going  on  plans,  policies  and  programs  relating 
to  the  provision  of  public  school  advantages  for  the  negroes 
were  developing  and  being  put  into  execution  as  rapidly  as 
possible. 

Each  year  saw  rapid  increase  in  the  school  population  and 
to  meet  this  increasing  demand  sites  and  buildings  at  the 
North  and  East  ends  of  town  were  secured  and  before  1910 
the  High  School  building  was  erected.  Not  only  did  these 
new  buildings  become  necessary  but  additions  had  to  be  made 
to  the  original  buildings  at  West  End  as  well  to  meet  the 
pressing  and  immediate  needs  of  the  rapidly  growing  town. 

In  this  respect  too,  growth  was  not  confined  to  provid- 
ing for  only  the  white  population.  The  Depot  Street  school 
for  colored  children  had  been  built  in  1887  and  its  capacity 
increased  in  1S>94.  In  1910  the  Woodland  Avenue  frame  struct- 


ure  was  first  occupied,  and  the  Oak  Street  building  came  into 
use  by  September  1913. 

A  more  concrete  idea  of  this  condition  of  rapid  growth 
and  consequent  necessity  for  more  school  room  space  may  be 
gained  from  the  following  statements.  In  the  scholastic  year 
1903-04  there  were  1735  children  enrolled  in  the  Winston 
schools;  in  1912-13  the  enrollment  was  3486.  In  1903-04  the 
town  employed  33  teachers;  in  1912-13  it  employed  100.  As 
a  result  of  these  conditions  the  total  value  of  school  buildings, 
grounds  and  equipment  for  the  year  1903-04  was  $78,300  and 
$210,00  in  1912-13.  In  1910-11  the  School  Commissioners  spent 
$16,000  for  new  buildings,  in  1911-12  they  spent  $52,000,  and 
in  1912-13  a  third  expenditure  of  $10,000  was  made  for  this 
same  purpose. 

Beginning  with  the  year  1913-14  a  consolidation  of  the 
Winston  and  the  Salem  school  system  was  effected  through 
the  inclusion  of  Salem  within  the  corporate  limits.  The  form 
of  organization  remained  the  same  as  before  while  the  prob- 
lems incident  to  housing  and  teaching  were  made  much  more 
complex.  The  Salem  system  was  easily  and  successfully  ab- 
sorbed within  the  larger  system  and  at  present  one  wculd 
not  realize  but  what  the  two  had  always  been  one. 

From  the  very  beginning  the  Winston -Salem  public  school 
system  has  increased  in  size,  influence,  and  efficiency. 
Normal  problems  have  had  to  be  met  and  solved,  but  there 
has  always  pervaded  the  thought  of  the  School  Commissioners 
a  most  commendable  poise  and  single-minded  uprightness 
which  has  served  to  prevent  any  open  ruptures  between 
school  officials  and  patrons  such  as  have  occurred  in  less  well- 
governed  communities. 

The  city  is  justly  proud  to  have  enrolled  in  its  teaching 
corps  such  men  as  Tomlinson,  Mclver,  Joyner,  Bickett,  and 
the  Blairs.  The  system  stands  today  a  fitting  and  living 
memorial  to  the  life  work  of  Dr.  Calvin  H.  Wiley  who  gave 
it  the  full  measure  of  his  long  experience  and  careful  study. 
The  spirit  of  these  its  founders  and  of  others  its  guardians 
still  actuates  the  present  administration. 


II.    ORGANIZATION 


The  Board  of  School  Control 

Control  of  schools  in  Winston-Salem  is  vested  in  a  board 
of  se\ren  members  known  as  the  Public-School  Commission- 
ers who  serve  without  pay.  Two  members  of  this  board  are 
appointed  by  the  board  of  aldermen  from  their  own  number 
and  the  other  five  are  elected  by  the  aldermen  from  the  city 
at  large.  As  a  matter  of  custom,  the  two  aldermen  on  the 
board  of  education  are  the  finance  committee  of  the  board  of 
aldermen. 

The  board  of  Public-School  Commissioners  handles  in  full 
all  school  matters  of  the  city  except  the  single  item  of  school 
funds.  Since  Winston-Salem  has  no  separate  school  tax  but 
considers  its  schools  a  department  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment like  the  police  or  fire  department,  the  school  commis- 
sioners must  make  out  an  annual  school  budget  which  it  sub- 
mits to  the  board  of  aldermen  for  final  action  thereon. 

This  single  exception,  however,  is  a  most  important  one. 
The  fact  that  no  friction  over  this  question  has  ever  develop- 
ed between  the  two  boards  in  a  period  of  over  thirty  years  is 
a  rare  compliment  to  the  lofty  aims  and  steadfast  purpose 
.which  have  actuated  both  bodies. 

But  public  schools  do  not  constitute  a  department  in  mu-^ 
nicipal  government.     Public  education  is  a  function  of  the* 
state  government  and  a  city  board   of  school  control  is  the 
delegated  power  of  the  state  to  administer  state  laws  relative 
to  public  schools.     As  such,  the  city  board  of  school  control 
should  administer  in  full  its  own  financial  affairs. 

By  placing  the  power  to  determine  the  amount  of  money 
which  shall  be  spent  for  schools  in  the  hands  of  the  board  of 
aldermen,  the  body  in  actual  control  of  the  schools  has  be- 
come the  board  of  aldermen  and  not  the  Board  of  Public- 
School  Commissioners  as  was  clearly  intended  and  as  the  State 
expected.  It  is  the  right,  privilege  and  duty  of  the  State  to 
educate  the  children  in  the  State.  It  delegates  power  to 
certain  smaller  units  of  government,  but  does  not"  surrender 
one  least  part  of  that  power.  Both  English  2nd  American 
encyclopedias  of  law  recognize  school  districts  as  political 
subdivisions  within  the  State  which  have  been  created  for 
the  purpose  of  supporting  and  administering  a  system  of 
public  education.  Such  districts  may  be  or  may  not  be  cotermi- 
nous with  the  city  corporated  limits.  The  city  may  settle  for 


itself  how  much  and  how  little  it  will  spend  on  streets  or  police, 
it  never  can  bring  its  support  of  schools  below  a  certain  min- 
imum. The  city  may,  it  should,  and  the  State  expects  it  will, 
provide  more  than  the  minimum  amount  for  school  oppor- 
tunity, because  of  its  increased  wealth.  The  State  does  not 
desire  to  have  public  education  forced  to  form  "entangling 
alliances"  with  any  part  of  municipal  politics.  In  all  matters 
relating  to  public  schools  the  State's  delegated  authority 
should  be  supreme  and,  therefore,  be  given  the  right  to  levy 
its  own  taxes  and  administer  its  own  funds. 

Accepting  the  principle  that  it  is  the  function  of  the  State 
to  provide  free  education  for  all  its  children,  it  follows  that 
the  board  of  school  control  within  the  city  should  not 
be  responsible  in  any  way  to  the  board  of  aldermen.  In 
about  70  per  cent  of  the  cities,  large  and  small,  studied  by 
Dr.  Ballou  in  1915,  it  was  found  the  people  elected  their 
own  boards  of  school  control  mostly  from  the  city  at  large. 
Deffenbaugh,  in  his  studies,  presents  almost  exactly  the  same 
figures  and  conditions.  There  is  no  doubt  that  practice  and 
experience  in  the  older  cities  have  demonstrated  the  wisdom 
of  making  the  board  of  education  responsible  directly  to  the 
people  and  not  to  any  authority  delegated  by  them.  It  is  a 
most  unusual  proceeding  at  the  present  time  to  find  city,  coun- 
cils or  city  board  of  aldermen  appointing  school  board  mem- 
bers, though  this  custom  was  prevalent  twenty-five  years 
ago. 

Organization  within  the  Winston-Salem  board  of  school 
control  is  on  the  basis  of  standing  committees.  The  commit- 
tee on  buildings  and  grounds  has  four  members.  The  com- 
mittee on  repairs  has  two  members  and  the  committee  on 
finance  and  supplies  likewise  has  two  members.  At  the  pre- 
sent time  two  of  the  board  members  are  both  serving  on  two 
committees,  viz.,  the  committee  on  buildings  and  grounds 
and  the  one  on  finance  and  supplies.  In  practise  this  inter- 
nal organization  is  more  formal  than  actual  and  might  well 
be  done  away  with  since  the  great  bulk  of  school  matters  are 
handled  in  a  committee  of  whole  and  since,  also,  there  is  at 
present  a  clearly  defined  tendency  all  over  the  United  States 
to  do  away  with  this  form  of  internal  organization  and  to- 
ward delegating  to  executive  officers  the  duties  which  form- 
erly fell  to  the  lot  of  standing  committees. 

The  present  tendency  also  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  is  all  toward  a  small  board  of  education.  In  large  cities 
a  board  of  seven  members  seems  most  common,  while  in  the 
smaller  cities  five  is  the  most  common  number.  According 
to  the  study  by  Dr.  Ballou  made  in  1915  the  size  of  boards  of 
education  in  seventy-two  cities  of  various  sizes  was  distribut- 
ed as  the  following  table  shows: 


-B 
I  - 

0)     O5 

"^    of 
P    be 

11 


'3  2 


.5  « 


S.S 


"o  "S 

^  1 


c    g 

l.s 

x   o 


^  -^ 
2    , 


pq 


<fi     f.     O 


r:    2>   a*^   cO 


The  section  of  the  city  charter  relating  to  schools  pro- 
vides that  the  board  may  choose  a  secretary  \\  ho  shall  be  paid 
not  to  exceed  $30.00  per  year.  Accordingly  the  present 
board  has  chosen  one  of  its  own  members  who  keeps  the  re- 
cords of  the  board  meetings.  The  great  number  of  inter- 
ests with  which  the  present  public  school  system  of  Win- 
ston-Salem  is  connected  involves  a  large  amount  of  clerical 
and  business  detail.  This  is  attended  to,  not  by  the  secre- 
tary, but  by  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  with  a  very  limited 
office  force.  When  the  system  was  small  and  the  range  of 
school  activities  was  limited  the  charter  provisions  were  ad- 
equate, but  the  present  magnitude  of  the  school  business 
in  Winston-Salem  calls  for  more  business-like  organization 
and  a  larger  clerical  force.  This  question  is  related  also  to 
the  efficiency  of  the  Superintendent  and  will  be  discussed  in 
another  of  its  phases  in  connection  with  that  officer,  as  it 
concerns  him  perhaps  more  than  it  concerns  the  board. 

Members  of  the  board  who  are  chosen  from  among  the 
aldermen  serve  for  the  length  of  term  they  are  chosen  as  alder- 
men; the  other  members  are  elected  for  three  year  terms. 
The  expiration  of  terms  of  office  makes  possible  the  retire- 
ment of  two  members  every  year,  either  in  May  or  September. 
Here  is  a  possible  source  of  weakness.  For  example,  every 
member  of  the  1915-16  board  may  have  been  legally  retired  by 
September,  1918.  By  the  time  this  report  is  printed,  a  ma- 
jority of  the  1915-16  board  may  be  out  of  office,  and  by  the 
time  this  report  is  distributed  only  two  of  the  1915-16  board 
may  be  in  office.  While  such  a  case  has  not  happened  the  pres- 
ent arrangement  makes  it  perfectly  possible  and  it  is  not  be- 
yond the  imagination  to  see  great  damage  done  to  the  Win- 
ston-Salem's  school  system  if  the  possibility  should  become  a 
reality.  Where  a  body  is  so  unstable  and  where  such  very 
great. uncertainty  prevails  as  to  the  personnel  of  a  board  of 
directors,  few  far-seeing  and  constructive  policies  of  admin- 
istration are  possible.  A  long  term  for  board  members  tends 
to  stability  and  hence  to  progress. 

Charter  provisions  make  it  possible  for  the  Winston-Salem 
board  of  school  control  to  perform  inspections^,  supervisory 
and  certain  definite  administrative  duties  relating  to  the  pub- 
lic schools.  It  is  the  very  wise  custom  of  this  body,  however, 
to  place  the  care  of  such  matters  in  the  hands  of  their  chief 
executive  officer,  the  City  Superintendent  of  Schools.  It  is  not 
wise  to  have  snch  legal  authority  whereby  the  board  may  in- 
terfere with  details  of  the  plans  and  policies  of  the  expert 
whom  they  have  engaged  to  run  the  schools.  Either  such  an 
officer  is  competent  and  should  be  given  legal  authority  or 
he  is  incompetent  and  ought  not  to  be  retained.  A  board  of 
school  control  is  mostly  concerned  with  legislation  affecting 


the  schools,  in  a  few  cases  it  must  serve  in  a  judicial  capac- 
ity. The  executive  phase  of  school  administration,  and  for 
the  majority  of  cases  the  judical  phase,  should  be  vested  in 
the  executive  officers  chosen  by  the  board  of  school  control. 

Once  every  month  the  board  meets  in  regular  session. 
These  meetings  are  most  informal  in  character  and  pervaded 
by  a  most  wholesome  atmosphere  of  public  interest  and  pu- 
pil welfare.  Discussion  is  free  and  informal  while  yet  serious 
and  purposeful.  Recommendations  and  opinions  of  the  Super- 
intendent are  greatly  depended  upon,  which  is  right  and  pro- 
per. Representatives  of  the  press  are  not  present  at  these 
meetings  but  through  the  Superintendent  all  matters  of  gen- 
eral public  interest  there  discussed  are  given  to  the  reporters 
for  publication.  In  this  way  the  public  is  kept  informed 
about  all  school  affairs  which  are  general  in  nature  while  the 
matters  which  concern  only  individuals  or  small  groups  are 
properly  guarded.  The  time  is  not  taken  up  in  listening  to 
long  reports  or  in  discussing  petty  details  but  items  which 
concern  large  policies  and  future  plans  are  carefully  con- 
sidered. All  questions  are  settled  by  a  majority  vote  and  in 
only  rare  cases  is  there  any  disagreement,  due  largely  to  the 
freedom  with  which  all  points  are  discussed  and  also  to  the 
single-minded  purpose  of  serving  the  best  welfare  of  the  pu- 
pils which  actuates  the  entire  membership, 

A  very  large  part  of  this  form  of  organization  for  the 
board  of  school  control  is  an  inheritance  from  the  earliest  days 
of  the  Winston  school  system.  A  glance  at  the  sections  of  the 
revised  charter  of  1879  relating  to  schools  will  show  that  many 
of  the  sentences  in  the  present  charter  relating  to  schools  were 
taken  bodily  from  this  document  which  was  drawn  up  to 
meet  conditions  in  Winston  when  it  was  only  a  small  town. 
The  radical  changes  have  been  to  increase  the  number  of 
school  commissioners  from  five  to  seven  and  to  remove  the 
separate  school  tax,  which  changes  might  well  have  been 
omitted  and  were  steps  backward  rather  than  forward. 

Winston-Salem  is  no  longer  a  country  town  far  removed 
from  the  turmoil  and  bustle  of  the  great  world  activities. 
From  it  now  there  branch  forth  great  arteries  of  trade  and 
industry  which  make  it  known  to  the  isles  of  the  seven  seas. 
Surely  the  form  of  business  organization  which  was  effective 
in  1879  will  not  suit  the  city's  present  industrial  situation. 
No  more  will  the  form  of  public  school  organization  so 
ably  worked  put  and  so  admirably  administered  then,  fit  the 
educational  situation  now.  Accordingly,  it  is  recommended 
that  steps  be  taken  to  secure  the  following  changes  in  the 
organization  of  the  board  of  school  control,  or  Board  of  Pub- 
lic-School Commissioners. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

It  is  desirable:— 

1.  That  the  name  of  this  board  be  changed  to  the  Board 
of  Education. 

2.  That  the  number  of  members  be  reduced  to  five. 

3.  That  these  members  be  elected  by  the  direct  vote  of 
the  people  at  an  election  called  at  a  different  time 
from  that  in  which  the  city  officials  are  chosen. 

4.  That  these  members  be  elected   for  a  term  of  five 
years  each,  so  arranged  -that  only  one  member  shall 
retire  in  any  one  year. 

5.  That  the  funds  for  the  support  of  schools  be  secured 
by  a  separate  school  tax. 

6.  That  all  matters  concerning  school  finance  be  placed 
under  the  sole  management  of  this  board,  and  that 
it  be  held  responsible  therefor. 

7.  That  the  policy  of  standing  committees  be  abandoned. 

8.  That  the  legislative,  executive  and  judicial    powers, 
duties  and  responsibilities  concerning  school  affairs 
be  definitely  and  properly  located. 

9.  That  the  present  policy  of  selecting  a  secretary  from 
within  the  board  be  abandoned  and  that  the  office  be 
held  by  a  trained  and  paid  clerk  in  accordance  with 
later  recommendations  concerning  the  Superinten- 
dent of  Schools, 


The  Chief  Executive 

The  School  Commissioners  select  as  their  chief  executive 
officer  a  superintendent  of  schools.  This  officer  is  elected 
for  one  year  at  a  time,  is  paid$2500.00per  year,  acts  as  direc- 
tor of  the  schools,  purchasing  agent,  superintendent  of  build- 
ing and  grounds,  inspector  of  schools,  advisor  to  the  board, 
mediator  between  parents  and  teachers,  statist'cian  of  the 
schools,  and  in  general  personally  does  anything  needful  to 
keep  the  schools  in  good  running  order. 

To  help  in  the  performauce  of  these  myriad  duties  he  is 
furnished  with  one  stenographer  whose  services  he  shares 
with  the  principal  of  the  high  school.  No  further  office 
force  is  provided. 

As  a  result  of  the  multitude  of  duties  thus  placed  on  the 
superintendent  his  time  and  energy  must  be  consumed  in  at- 

9 


tending  to  petty  details  of  little  matters,  many  of  which  a 
mere  office  boy  might  do  as  well.  Strength  and  opportunity 
for  thinking  out  new  policies  and  for  enlarging  the  service 
of  the  public  school  system  to  the  common  good  are  wasted 
in  nerve-racking  and  brain -fagging  attention  to  the  routine 
and  mechanics  of  small  affairs. 

A  small  city  content  to  do  small  things  in  a  small  way, 
with  no  very  great  future  in  store,  may  rest  content  with 
making  a  clerk  and  office  boy  of  its  superintendent.  A  city 
which  is  growing  as  rapidly  as  Winston-Salem,  with  a  prom- 
ise of  long-continued  prosperity  and  with  such  great  indus- 
trial possibilities  cannot  afford  to  follow  any  but  a  far-sight- 
ed policy.  To  continue  under  the  present  plan  is  both  short- 
sighted and  wasteful. 

The  superintendent  of  a  great  factory  is  not  bothered 
with  ordering  coal  for  the  boilers  or  oil  for  the  engines. 
Routing  of  material,  repair  of  machinery,  immediate  super- 
vision of  work,  are  matters  which  little  concern  the  general 
superintendent.  The  greater  questions  of  change  in  process 
of  manufacture,  of  enlarging  the  scope  of  the  business,  of 
cutting  down  the  waste  here  and  improving  the  grade  of  pro- 
duction there,  are  the  lines  of  thought  pursued  by  the  general 
manager. 

To  absorb  within  the  Winston-Salem  school  system  the 
new  school  population  which  has  been  and  soon  will  be  taken  in 
calls  for  thoughtful  consideration,  careful  planning  and  tact- 
ful handling.  The  present  location  of  certain  school  build- 
ings in  relation  to  the  patrons  they  serve  is  only  one  illustra- 
tion of  what  is  to  be  expected  as  the  result  of  failure  to  look 
ahead  and  plan  for  the  future.  An  executive  officer  in  a  busi- 
ness using  a  yearly  operating  capital  of  $100,000  must  have 
time  and  opportunity  to  determine  how  such  a  sum  may  be 
best  utilized  to  get  the  largest  returns  possible. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  a  superintendent 
who  is  chosen  for  one  year  at  a  time  will  feel  sufficiently 
secure  in  office  to  attempt  any  far-reaching  changes  in  policy. 
Many  times  a  period  of  several  years  is  necessary  in  order  to 
justify  certain  charges  in  organization,  administration,  or 
methods.  An  executive  whose  tenure  of  office  is  limited  to  a 
single  year  will  be  careful  not  to  recommend  changes  the  re- 
sults of  which  and  the  justification  for  which  will  not  appear 
before  he  is  to  be  considered  again  for  re-election.  The  ten- 
dency all  over  the  United  States  is  strongly  toward  the  election 
of  city  superintendents  for  long  terms.  Good  business  sense 
demands  that  such  a  change  take  place  and  experience  proves 
its  wisdom. 

In  the  matter  of  expenditures  for  the  Superintendent's 
office  Winston-Salem  is  not  keeping  up  with  cities  of  her  class. 

10 


The  following  table  shows  the  expenses  during  the  past  two 
years  for  this  item  in  25  cities  chosen  by  lot  from  the  same 
class  in  which  Winston-Salem  is  placed  by  the  U.  S.  Com- 
missioner of  Education. 


1913-14 
Amount 

Rank 

1914-15 
Amount     Rank 

Selma    Ala                             

$2683 
2580 
2000 
275. 
3370 
5655 
3100 
No  Report 
No  Report 
3279 
2557 
2780 
2715 
1850 
3718 
3700 
2640 
2400 
4?u5 

12 
14 
19 
10 
6 
1 
8 
25 
24 
7 
15 
9 
11 
20 
3 
4 
13 
16 
2 
22 
5 
18 
16 
23 
21 

$2700 
3970 
2100 
2750 
3,370 
5655 
No  Report 
3650 
No  Report 
3171 
3225 
2830 
2400 
2390 
3671 
3720 
3643 
2500 
4476 
1800 
3395 
2300 
2400 
1738 
2054 

14 
3 
20 
13 
9 
1 
25 
6 
24 
11 
10 
12 
16 
18 
5 
4 
7 
15 
2 
22 
8 
19 
16 
23 
21 

Eureka   Cal 

Danbury    Conn 

Columbus    Ga 

Galesbury    111 

Hammond    Ind 

Burlington,  la.         _____ 

Coffeyville,  Kans 

Monroe    La 

Peabody   Mass                               

Ann  Arbor    Mich 

St   Cloud   Minn 

Hannibal    Mo 

Laconia    N    H 

Irvington    N    J 

Dunkirk    N    Y 

Durham    N    C 

WINSTON-SALEM   N   C 

Lakewood    0 

Enid,  Okla.          

1800 
3395 
2300 
2400 
1738 
1818 

Butler,  Pa.                                   

Cranston,  R.  I. 

Marshall,   Tex. 

Staunton,  Va. 

Ashland,  Wis  

The  median  rank  is  of  course  No.  13.  and  for  both  these 
years  Winston-Salem  ranks  below  the  median.  In  fact  she 
ranks  lower  in  1914-15  than  in  1913-14  even  though  the  ex- 
penses of  the  Superintendent's  office  advanced  $100.  The 
fact  only  goes  to  show  how  the  general  tendency  is  toward 
increasing  the  sums  paid  for  expert  service.  Clearly  Win- 
ston-Salem is  not  doing  as  well  as  she  might  in  this  particu- 
lar and  is  not  using  the  same  business  sense  in  running  her 
school  business  that  she  is  using  in  her  other  industrial  en- 
terprises. 

In  order  to  make  the  office  of  chief  executive  in  this  sys- 
tem more  efficient  and  more  nearly  in  accord  with  good  prac- 
tice elsewhere  it  seems  wise  to  recommend  as  follows: 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  The  Board  of  Education  should  continue  to  choose 
the  Superintendent  of  schools. 

2.  This  officer  should  be  chosen  for  a  period  of  not  less 
than  four  years  after  two  probationary  periods  of 

11 


- 


one  year  each  in  the  case  of  an  untried  candidate, 
subject  to  removal  at  any  time  upon  proven  charges 
of  gross  incompetence  or  immorality  at  a  public  hear- 
ing. 

3.  The  office  force  of  the   Superintendent  of  Schools 
should  be  increased,  by  adding  thereto  a  paid  busi- 
ness manager,  or  office  clerk,   who  might  also  serve 
as  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Education   and  who 
should  give  full  time  to  his  duties  in  connection  with 
this  office. 

4.  The  Superintendent  of  Schools  should  be  given  full 
power  to  carry  out  the  policies  of  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation and  be  held  responsible  by- the  Board  for  re- 
sults but  not  for  methods. 

5.  In  case  a  business  manager  or  office  clerk  is  not  se- 
cured the  salary  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools 
should  be  materially  increased  thus  enabling  him  to 
secure  necessary  aid.     It  would  be  better  business 
to  secure  the  extra  officer  and  would  make  toward 
more  efficient  organization. 

The  Minor  Executives 

Strictly  speaking,  the  system  has  no  supervisors.  Such 
special  subjects  as  manual  training,  printing,  the  commer- 
cial branches,  are  taught  by  a  special  teacher  for  each,  draw- 
ing and  penmanship  are  taught  in  all  the  schools  and  domes- 
tic science  in  four.  Yet  no  one  is  made  responsible  for  cor- 
relating, unifying  and  extending  the  scope  of  the  work  done 
in  the  vocational  subjects,  or  of  the  work  done  in  drawing 
and  penmanship  or  in  the  home-making  subjects.  Every 
primary  grade  and  every  grammar  grade  teacher,  or  at  least 
every  primary  and  grammar  grade  department  within  a 
single  school  is  a  law  unto  herself  or  itself  except  in  so  far  as 
the  general  influence  of  the  Superintendent  can  make  itself 
felt. 

Such  a  condition  is  easily  explained,  of  course.  The  sys- 
tem has  grown  so  rapidly  and  certain  demands  have  become 
so  insistent  that  conditions  have  been  met  as  circumstances 
arose.  New  demands  have  constantly  arisen,  almost  over 
night,  and  no  opportunity  has  been  presented  for  departmen- 
talizing any  of  the  work.  When  attempts  have  been  made 
to  attend  to  this  matter  the  rapidly  increasing  enrollment 
has  pressed  the  administration  to  supply  even  sufficient  teach- 
ing force  and  no  chance  has  been  given  for  supplying  a  proper 
and  adequate  force. 

Under  such  circumstances   there  must  inevitably  be  a 

12 


great  deal  of  lost  motion.  The  teacher  of  the  regular  sub- 
jects finds  it  difficult  to  plan  work  along  a  great  variety  of 
lines,  something  must  be  neglected  in  the  planning  and  that 
something  will  very  probably  be  the  subject  or  subjects  in 
which  the  teacher  is  least  interested.  The  specific  training 
of  many  regular  grade  teachers  for  giving  proper  instruc- 
tions in  certain  subjects  likf  drawing  for  instance,  has  been 
limited,  to  say  the  least,  and  there  is  no  great  store  of  knowl- 
edge about  the  work  with  which  to  arouse  new  interest  and 
from  which  to  draw  new  inspiration, 

A  primary  grade  or  grammar  grade  supervisor  may  be  of 
incalculable  aid  to  a  Superintendent  in  training  and  developing 
teachers.  Many  a  teacher  of  little  experience  and  1  mited 
training  has  always  remained  mediocre  in  teaching  ability  be- 
cause she  had  no  one  with  a  broader  training  or  with  a  bright- 
er vision  to  lead  her  in  to  ways  of  self-improvement  and  growth. 
Money  spent  for  special  supervisors  is  money  well-invested. 
It  must  be,  or  well  organized  business  concerns  would  not 
charge  up  so  large  a  sum  to  the  services  of  room  or  depart- 
ment foremen. 

It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  when  a  city 
department  needs  a  number  of  men  to  do  a  given  piece  of 
work  well  and  quickly,  the  head  of  the  department  will  send 
out  a  group  of  men  to  do  the  work  and  make  one  of  the  men 
"the  boss, "  who  will  never  think  of  doing  the  work  him- 
self but  rather  will  direct,  show  the  others  how  to  do  it, 
This  is  not  deemed  waste  in  ditch  digging  or  in  track  laying, 
why  should  it  be  considered  thus  in  teaching  school? 

Working  under  the  inspiration  and  leadership  of  efficient 
supervisors  the  teachers  will  do  more  work  and  better  work, 
while  the  results  will  be  more  nearly  uniform.  Without  su- 
pervisors it  is  difficult  either  to  establish  or  to  maintain  stand- 
ards and  as  a  result  the  quantity  and  especially  the  quality 
of  finished  products  becomes  a  matter  of  chance,  if  not  of 
doubt. 

The  weaknesses  which  naturally  result  from  a  lack  of 
supervisors  are  partly  counteracted  by  the  corps  of  principals 
in  the  system.  None  of  the  five  principals  of  the  white 
schools  teaches  at  all  except  in  case  of  an  emergency.  One 
of  the  principals  in  the  colored  schools  also  does  no  teaching, 
the  others  teach  part  of  the  time. 

Because  of  this  condition  the  work  within  each  school 
can  be  fairly  well  standardized,  the  teaching  inspected  and 
watched.  Through  the  principals'  meetings  a  kind  of  uniform- 
ity can  be  extended  to  a  degree  over  the  entire  system. 
Yet  much  is  lost  in  transit  which  might  be  retained  through 
an  adequate  supervisory  force.  Because  the  principals  are 
free  to  inspect  and  supervise  and  because  they  are  expected 

v  13 


to  aid  the  superintendent  in  the  selection  or  retention  of 
teachers,  there  is  a  tendency  for  the  principals  to  watch  the 
classroom  work  rather  carefully.  Just  how  rr  uch  of  con- 
structive criticism  the  principals  make  of  classroom  work 
does  not  clearly  appear,  there  certainly  is  some. 

The  comparative  duties  of  the  principals,  as  concerns 
number  of  classrooms  to  be  supervised  and  the  number  of 
teachers  and  pupils  over  which  each  is  in  control  are  shown 
in  the  following  table. 

Table  Showing  Extent  of  Principals'  Responsibilities 

WHITE 


Name  of  School 

No.  of  Rooms 

No.  of  Teachers 

No.  of  Pupils 

West  End 

25 

25 

913 

East__ 

16 

17 

638 

North  and  Fairview  
Central 

25 

7 

26 

7 

1004 
224 

Granville  _  _.     _   . 

12 

12 

443 

COLORED 


Depot  Street..     

11 

11 

767 

Woodland  Avenue     _ 

12 

11 

633 

Oak  Street.       

8 

7 

448 

Columbia  Heights 

7 

7 

333 

At  West  End  and  in  the  North  and  Fairview  scho 
the  situation  is  fairly  normal,  with  one  principal  handling 
around  twenty-five  to  thirty  teachers  and  a  thousand  pupils. 
The  principal  in  the  East  school  with  a  smaller  teaching  corps 
and  student  body  might  be  expected  to  dp  some  teaching. 
Just  wliy  there  is  need  for  two  principals  in  the  Central  and 
Granville  schools  is  not  clear.  One  principal  could  easily  per- 
form all  necessary  duties  for  both  schools  since  by  consolida- 
ting these  positions  the  one  principal  would  have  to  direct  on- 
ly nineteen  teachers  and  667  pupils.  The  distance  between 
tht  two  buildings  is  no  more  prohibitive  of  such  an  arrange- 
ment than  that  between  the  North  and  Fairview  schools 
where  the  enrollment  and  teaching  force  is  much  larger. 
There  seems  to  be  a  most  regrettable  tendency  on  the  part 
of  the  principals  not  to  do  classroom  teaching.  In  the  Win- 
ston-Salem  system  there  is  no  school  unit  so  large  that  the 
principal  might  not  well  do  a  little  teaching.  Under  such  a 
plan  benefits  accrue  to  pupils,  teachers,  the  principal  and  to 
the  system  as  a  whole. 

A  principal  who  teaches  one  or  more  classes  in  a  single 
grade  through  a  year,  after  a  few  years  comes  to  know  more 
intimately  the  individual  difference  of  pupils  in  that  school 
than  any  amount  of  record  could  possibly  give.  As  a  result 

14 


justice  can  more  nearly  be  meted  out  to  the  pupils  in  matters 
of  scholarship  as  well  as  of  discipline. 

The  principal  who  does  little  teaching  soon  gets  out  of 
touch  with  classroom  problems.  When  the  class  teacher 
comes  to  the  principal  with  a  very  specific  difficulty  the  prin- 
cipal can  give  only  a  very  general  and  vague  solution  of  the 
problem.  Daily  contact  with  classwork  keeps  the  principal 
alive  to  classroom  problems  and  makes  him  appreciative  of 
the  class  teacher's  viewpoint. 

In  this  way  the  principal  does  not  stagnate  but  on  the 
other  hand  grows  daily  through  the  simulation  of  first  hand 
contact  with  the  pupils  under  him.  So  the  entire  system 
feels  the  influence  of  the  personal  touch  ar;d  is  stimula  ed  to 
a  greater  mutual  appreciation  of  tasks,  duties,  problems  and 
viewpoints.  Mutual  confidence  is  established  and  the  entire 
personnel  has  a  sur^r  sense  of  justice  and  a  freer  willingness 
to  perform  alloted  tasks. 

The  principals  in  the  white  elementary  schools  have  had 
the  following  terms  of  services  in  the  Winston  Salem  system: 
Two  have  served  four  years;  one,  thirteen  years;  one,  fifteen; 
one,  twenty-three.  The  high  school  principal  has  served 
seven  years. 

In  the  colored  schools  one  principal  has  served  four  years; 
one,  ten;  one,  sixteen;  one,  nineteen. 

This  strongly  indicates  a  tendency  to  select  principals 
with  great  care  and  then  to  keep  them  on  from  year  to  year 
just  as  long  as  possible.  In  other  words,  the  tenure  of  office 
among  the  principals  is  reasonably  secure  and  the  length  of 
term  fairly  long.  The  policy  is  a  good  one  and  tends  toward 
unifying  and  building  up  the  system.  Long  term  policies  can 
be  adopted  with  reasonable,  assurance  that  they  can  be 
brought  to  fruition  under  such  a  system.  The  term  of  ser- 
vice for  principals  should  be  long  and  their  tenure  of  office 
secure.  This  appears  to  be  the  condition  in  Winston-Salem. 

The  duties  of  the  principals  are  largely  clerical  and 
supervisory.  The  clerical  duties  are  not  as  yet  very  tedious 
or  exacting.  In  the  matter  of  supervision  much  time  and 
thought  is  consumed  in  detail  work.  Minor  problems  of 
class  teaching,  promotions,  discipline,  etc.,  must  be  handled 
through  the  principals.  The  larger  matters  which  concern 
the  development  of  enlarged  policies,  new  methods,  testing 
and  standardizing  of  work  are  matters  which  the  principals 
can  attend  to  only  at  the  expense  of  extra  time  and  out  of 
school  effort.  In  many  ways  this  not  an  unfortunate  con- 
dition at  the  present  time.  The  time  is  coming,  however, 
when  more  time  must  be  allowed  the  principals  during  school 
hours  to  consider  these  greater  and  more  far-reaching  prob- 
lems. 

15 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

Because  of  these  facts  and  conditions  it  is  recommended : 

1.  That  a  supervisor  of  primary  grade  work  at  least  be 
secured  at  once. 

2.  That  a  supervisor  of  drawing  and  music  be  secured 
as  soon  as  possible. 

3.  That  immediate  steps  be  taken  to  secure  proper  ex- 
tension, correlation  and  unification  in  teaching  the 
vocational  and  the  home-making  subjects. 

4.  That  plans  be  made  looking  toward  securing  a  su; 
pervisor   of  the  grammar  grades  within  the    next 
three  years. 

5.  That  one  principal  be  placed  in  charge  of  both  the 
Central  and  the  Granville  schools,  in  this  way  follow- 
ing the  policy  adopted  for  the  North  and  Fairview 
schools. 

6.  That  principals  be  expected  to  teach  at  least  one  class 
in  a  given   grade,   say    the    fourth   or    fifth,    daily 
throughout  the  year. 

(If  this  can  not  be  done  at  the  present  in  all  schools 
it  certainly  should  be  done  in  the  East,  Central  and 
Granville  schools). 

7.  That  the  principals  be  encouraged  to  use  standard 
tests  of  school  measurement  more   freely   in  esti- 
mating the  work  of  both  pupils  and  teachers. 

s 

THE  TEACHERS 

The  organization  of  the  teaching  corps  is  treated  under 
the   larger  division  of  this    study  entitled,  "The  Teaching 
Force."     (q  v.  )     The  conditions  as  there  stated  need  not 
given  here. 

Other  Officials 

HEALTH  OFFICER 

The  health  inspection  of  the  pupils  is  in  charge  of  a 
school  nurse  who  is  appointed  by  the  city  physician  who,  in 
turn  is  selected  through  the  Board  of  Aldermen.  The  nurse 
is  not  responsible  to  the  school  officials  except  in  a  most  gen- 
eral way. 

This  official  examines  the  eyes,  ears,  nose,  throat,  and 
genaral  health  of  the  children,  and  reports  the  results  of 

16 


such  examinations  to  the  parents,  in  case  any  unfavorable 
conditions  are  found.  What  action  is  taken  looking  toward 
a  remedy  of  the  conditions  depends  upon  the  parents.  Sani- 
tary and  hygienic  conditions  around  the  buildings  and  grounds 
are  cared  for  by  the  principals  and  teachers. 

The  health  of  school  children  and  the  physical  conditions 
which  surround  them  are  most  important  factors  in  the  de- 
termination of  pupil  welfare.  Such  matters  need  most  care- 
ful scrutiny  and  constant  care.  Cursory,  intermittent,  or 
perfunctory  attention  to  the  pupils7  physical  surroundings 
ought  not  to  be  allowed. 

It  is  just  as  important  that  children  have  proper  super- 
vision of  their  health  as  it  is  that  they  be  taught  proper  sub- 
ject-matter by  correct  methods.  There  is  no  more  reason 
why  the  Board  of  Aldermen  should  control  the  medical  in- 
spection of  children  than  there  is  that  this  same  board  should 
control  the  teaching  force.  This  is  a  specialized  phase  of  the 
public  school  work  and  should  be  managed  entirely  by  the 
Boa  d  of  Education  in  the  same  way  as  it  manages  the  teach- 
ing force,  janitor  service,  etc. 

ATTENDANCE  OFFICER 

To  no  single  officer  is  entrusted  the  enforcement  of  com- 
pulsory school  attendance.  In  a  most  general  way  teachers, 
principals  and  the  superintendent  see  to  it  that  the  children 
do  attend  school. 

The  result  is  not  entirely  satisfactory  as  the  following 
figures  will  show. 

Table  showing  per  cent  of  children  8  to  12  years  old  en- 
rolled in  school  and  per  cent  attending  daily: 

WHITE 


Enrollment--       _       .  .. 

1913-1  t 

97   ' 
79 

1914-15 

97 

SO 

1915-16 

97 

81 

1916-17 

97  ' 

80 

Attendance  -_._.._ 

COLORED 

Enrollment                _            _-..__ 

79 
73 

85 
69 

72 

69 

72 
65 

Attendance 

It  ought  not  to  be  possible  for  one  child  daily  out  of  every 
five  of  compulsory  school  age  to  be  absent  from  school.  Yet 
this  is  the  condition  among  the  white  children,  and  the  situa- 
tion among  the  colored  children  is  even  worse.  The  city  must 
make  provision  for  all  children  of  compulsory  school  age  and 
when  that  provision  is  once  made  every  absence  from  school 
is  a  distinct  loss  and  a  waste  of  school  money. 

If  grand  totals  are  considered  the  condition  is  no  better, 
in  fact  it  is  a  little  worse. 

17 


Table  showing  per  cent  of  attendance  based  on  median 
enrollment. 


1913-14 

78 

1014-15 
79 

1915-16 
79 

1916-17 

81 

Report  for  five  months  only. 

It  is  not  a  valid  excuse  to  say  that  if  all  who  enrolled 
were  in  attendance  daily  proper  accommodations  could  not 
be  given  them.  The  city  has  obligated  itself  to  the  state  to 
provide  free  public  school  education  1'or  all  its  children  and 
it  must  fulfill  that  obligation.  If  the  children  of  the  city 
who  are  entitled  to  go  to  school  are  not  given  proper  accom- 
modations then  the  city  is  in  duty  bound  to  provide  such  ac- 
commodations. 

More  than  that,  the  city  is  bound  to  enforce  the  state 
laws  regarding  public  schools.  The  compulsory  attendance 
law  holds  for  Winston-Salem  as  for  other  school  districts  in 
the  state.  Winston-Salem  is  under  legal  contract  to  enforce 
that  law  and  to  see  that  children  of  compulsory  school  age 
are  in  school.  If  it  means  providing  an  attendance  officer  to 
attend  to  the  matter  then  such  an  officer  must  be  chosen  who 
will  attend  to  his  duties  without  fear  or  favor. 

TREASURER 

The  custodian  of  the  school  money  is,  obviously,  the  City 
Treasurer,  since  the  schools  are  considered  a  department  of 
the  city  government.  There  is  every  reason  to  expect  that 
under  any  circumstances  this  officer  should  attend  to  the  de- 
tails of  receiving  and  dispensing  the  school  funds. 

JANITORS 

Every  school  is  provided  with  a  full-time  janitor.  These 
officers  are  nominated  by  the  principals  to  the  Superintendent 
who,  in  turn  recommends  them  to  the  Board  of  School  Com- 
missioners by  whom  the  recommendation  is  confirmed.  This 
method  is  proper  and  in  accord  with  good  practice.  All  this 
is  a  custom,  however,  which  has  come  about  through  the 
mutual  confidence  of  the  board  and  the  Superintendent.  Lack 
of  specific  regulation  makes  it  possible  that  such  an  ideal 
condition  might  not  always  obtain. 

In  fact,  there  are  no  regulations  governing  the  selections, 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  janitors.  Rules  governing  these 
items  are  as  necessary  for  controlling  janitor  service  as  for 
controlling  the  teachers, or  principals  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties. 

REPAIR  MAN 

As  an  economy  measure,  all  repairs  are  attended  to  by 
the  teacher  of  manual  training.  The  Winston-Salem  system 

18 


is  growing  so  rapidly  and  the  course  in  manual  training  is 
becoming  so  popular  that  this  arrangement  cannot  go  on  in- 
definitely. The  time  is  soon  coming  and  is  perhaps  at  hand 
when  a  whole-time  repair  man  will  find  enough  employment 
to  keep  him  fully  occupied.  Neglect  of  little  repairs  is  not 
good  school  economy  any  more  than  it  is  good  business  econ- 
omy. 

RECOMM  KNDATIONS 

It  is  recommended  : 

1.  That  at  least  one  fall  time  health  officer   be    chosen 
by  the  Board  of  Education  to  attend  with  care  and 
thoroughness  to  all  matters  concerned  with  school 
sanitation  and  hygiene.     If  possible,  the  service  of 
such  an  official  should  be  supplemented  by  securing 
a  school  nurse  whose  chief  duty  should  be  to   follow 
up  the  reported  cases  of  unsatisfactory  health  con- 
ditions am>  ng  the  pupils. 

2.  That  the  Board  of  Education  request  the  police  de- 
partment to  detail  a  special  officer  to  serve  as  the 
school  attendance  officer  and  that    the   board  enact 
proper  legislation  concerning  his  duties   looking  to- 
ward full  enforcement  of  the  compulsory  attendance 
law. 

3.  That  the  City  Treasurer  continue  to  serve  as  treasurer 
of  the  school  funds,  without  extra  compensation. 

4.  That  rules  and  regulations  governing  the   selection, 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  janitors  be  adopted 
by  the  Board  of  Education. 

5.  That  farther  consideration  be  given  the  matter  of  a 
full-time  repair  man,  or  school  engineer,  to  deter- 
mine if  such  an  officer  is  necessary.     In  case  such  a 
necessity   appears   the  Board  of  Education  should 
select  him  and  fix  his  duties. 

THE  SYSTEM 

The  school  system  is  organized  on  the  basis  of  a  seven- 
year  elementary  course  and  a  four  year  high  school  course. 
Like  all  North  Carolina  school  systems  it  has  one  set  of 
schools  for  white  children  and  a  separate  set  for  colored 
children. 

The  elementary  system  for  the  white  children  is  housed 
in  seven  buildings.  There  are,  however,  only  five  school  units 
since  in  two  cases  there  are  two  separate  buildings  but  all 
the  work  is  handled  as  if  there  were  only  one.  The  high 

19 


school  system  is  housed  in  a  separate  building  with  the  pupils 
in  the  ungraded  class  and  those  taking  printing  or  commer- 
cial work  in  rented  rooms  near  at  hand. 

For  the  elementary  system  among  the  colored  children 
five  buildings  are  provided.  In  one  case,  two  buildings  are 
used  for  a  single  school  unit,  and  in  another  case  one  build- 
ing serves  also  to  house  two  years  of  high  school  work. 
There  is  no  separate  unit  for  instruction  in  high  school  sub- 
jects for  the  colored  ehildre  i. 

In  general,  the  buildings  are  not  well  located  in  relation 
to  the  homes  of  the  children  whom  they  serve.  The  East 
school,  in  particular,  is  thus  badly  located  being  on  the  very 
outer  edge  of  its  district.  As  can  be  seen  from  the  map 
showing  the  location  of  the  several  school  buildings,  the 
colored  school  buildings  are  somewhat  better  located  than 
those  for  white  children. 

Custom  and  long-established  habit  has  determined  the 
7-4  or  8-4  form  of  organizing  the  courses  of  study  in  the 
public  school.  Recent  studies  and  experiments  have  shown 
how  lacking  such  a  plan  is  in  good  principles  of  physiology, 
psychology  and  pedagogy.  The  modern  tendency  and  rapid- 
ly growing  practice  is  to  establish  a  system  under  the  so-called 
6-6,  6-3-3,  6-3-2.  7-3-2,  or  Elementary-Junior  High  School- 
Senior  High  School  plan.  The  accompanying  figure  shows 
how  this  more  modern  form  of  organization  fits  the  needs 
of  the  children  more  readily  than  the  customary  plan. 


20 


0 

2 

M 

H 

j 

. 

J 

< 
)- 

_) 

H  < 

5- 

~ 

»0 

1 

e 

SCHOO 

f 

a: 

SCHOO 

ELIM.EX 

SCHOO 

J<S-GrBS 

YSTE 

v>  V) 

• 

i 

>f 

u 

H 

n 

H 

•4 
0 

f. 

j 

c 

H^ 

M 

•x 

o- 

sc 

H 

V) 

•a: 

i 

a: 

o- 
•x. 

0 

X 

O 

Ul 

1 

w 

s 
O 

</) 

^H 

1* 

a 

<n 

« 

•- 

* 

lA 

^ 

CO 

N 

- 

o 

^ 

CO 

f- 

sfi 

*-S 

jjj 

- 

0 

<r> 

OD 

•^ 

%» 

10, 

^ 

(O 

M 

— 

w 
o 

M 

u 

a 

0 

0 

r\ 

o 

g 

tc 

^ 

^ 

•* 

^ 

? 

cQ 

t3 

O 

U 

c 

._» 

IH 

W 
X 

^4 

V) 

C^ 

I~* 

r> 

^1 

M 

»3 

{X. 

< 

i 

1 

3 

£ 

« 

t: 

t 

lo 

1 

?? 

(Vl 

= 

0 

en 

00 

r» 

vfl 

21 


Which  system  best  helps  the  pupil  to  bridge  over  the  nat- 
ural and  artificial  breaks  in  the  process  of  development  trd 
growth? 

Nor  is  the  question  as  simple  as  this  illustration  would 
imply.  By  the  plan  of  having  three  school  periods  instead 
of  two  in  the  school  life  of  the  children  it  is  possible  to  adapt 
courses  more  nearly  to  the  individual  difference  and  to  the 
varying  needs  and  desires  of  different  children.  The  system  of 
gradation  and  promotion  becomes  simplified  *md  the  so-called 
"misfit  child"  has  better  provision  made  for  him.  The  more 
flexible  a  system  can  be  made,  within  certain  limits,  the  fewer 
cases  of  misfits  there  are,  for  as  has  been  pointed  out,  so  many 
times  in  other  places,  —the  case  of  public  school  system  is 
rather  that  it  is  a  misfit  to  the  child,  than  that  the  child  is  a 
misfit  to  it,— that  is  to  say,  the  attempt  has  not  been  to  fit 
school  systems  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  children  but  to  try  to 
fit  children  into  a  too  rigid  and  too  inflexible  system. 

This  situation  is  recognized  by  the  Superintendent  and 
principals  in  Winston-Salem  since  the  custom  is  to  try  to  make 
the  system  of  promotions  as  flexible  as  possible.  Grade  pro- 
motions are  reported  under  five  headings,  viz.,  (1)  Honor 
Promotions,  (2)  Full  Promotions,  (3)  Special  Examinations, 
(4)  Retained  list,  (5)  Left  school.  Special  promotions  may 
take  place  at  any  time  in  the  year  when  teacher  and  principal 
consider  the  welfare  of  any  pupil  demands  it.  In  spite  of  even 
this  excellent  plan  for  pupil  accounting  there  is  too  high  a 
percentage  of  over-ape  pupils  in  the  system  as  the  section  of 
this  report  dealing  with  the  pupils  will  show.  Evidently,  an 
even  greater  flexibility  than  is  possible  under  the  present 
system  is  needed  to  care  properly  for  the  great  individual 
differences  of  the  school  children. 

The  system  of  promotions  in  the  first  three  grades  is  very 
simple.  Upon  the  deportment,  atter dance  and  progress  in 
the  studies  pursued  the  teachers  recommend  the  pupils  to 
the  principals  for  promotion  who  announce  the  promotion  or 
retention  of  pupils.  The  rules  and  regulations  specifically 
state  that  teachers  do  not  promote  pupils  but  recommend 
only.  As  a  check  upon  a  teacher's  judgment  oral  tests  are 
given  in  the  first  three,  or  primary  grades,  at  such  times  as 
teachers,  principals  or  Superintendent  may  deem  wise. 

In  the  grades  from  four  through  seven  the  process  is 
naturally  more  complicated.  Four  conditions  determine  pro- 
motion in  the  grammar  grades,  viz.,  deportment,  absences, 
tardies,  a  passing  mark  of  75  on  each  subject,  except  that 
in  case  any  two  marks  of  a  pupil  fall  as  low  as  70  an  average 
of  85  must  be  made  on  the  remaining  subjects.  -  In  "these 
grades,  too,  intermediate  and.final  written  examinations  are 
given  the  result  of  whicft  with  the  other  written  tests  counts 

22 


40%  in  making  up  the  final  mark.  Here  also  teachers  rec- 
ommend pupils  for  promotions  but  do  not  promote.  Success- 
ful completion  of  the  work  in  the  seventh  grade  secures  pro- 
motion into  the  high  school. 

In  the  high  school  promotions  are  by  subjects  and  not  by 
g  rades.  Three  factors  determine  full  promotion,  viz. ,  deport-' 
rnent,  attendance,  a  passing  mark  of  75%  in  all  subjects. 
Graduation  from  the  high  school  is  conditioned  upon  the  suc- 
cessful completion  of  the  work  in  the  eleventh  grade  togeth- 
er with  a  satisfactory  record  as  to  deportment  and  attend- 
ance. '  The  privilege  of  special  examinations  is  determined 
by  the  principal  and  Superintendent. 

All  these  provisions  are  in  accord  with  good  practice  and 
are  successful  in  the  conduct  of  the  Winston-Salem  system. 
Sufficient  rigidity  tends  to  secure  respect  for  the  system 
while  proper  elasticity  provides  that  none  may  suffer  from 
the  injustice  of  unfortunate  circumstances. 

There  is  some  attempt  to  provide  sections  of  varying  de- 
grees of  progress  in  the  work  of  a  given  grade  throughout 
th  >  system.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  such  a  practice  can  be 
followed  with  greater  ease  in  the  primary  grades  than  any 
where  else.  Just  how  successful  such  a  practice  is  current 
in  Winston-Salem  is  not  within  the  province  of  this  report, 
since  the  question  concerns  methods  and  material  quite  as 
much  as  organizations,  but  in  one  North  Carolina  city  of  Win- 
ston-Saiem's  own  population  class  such  a  plan  i?  carried  out 
extensively  and  with  marked  success.  It  would  seem  that 
the  plan  is  worthy  more  extended  use  in  Winston-Salem. 

Tranfer  of  pupils  from  one  school  unit  to  another, 
grade  for  grade  is  fairly  easy  and  accompanied  by  a  minimum 
of  difficulty  for  the  pupils.  A  closer  correlation  of  work  by 
closer,  more  unified  and  more  direct  supervision,  as  suggest- 
ed elsewhere,  would  aid  greatly  in  still  further  reducing 
the  difficulties  of  pupil  transfer.  While  identity  of  method 
and  material  in  the  several  units  is  not  desirable  even  if 
possible,  yet  a  minimum  of  uniformity  is  indispensable  if 
the  system  is  to  be  a  united  whole. 

A  discussion  of  the  courses  of  study  and  of  the  methods 
used  in  teaching  is  not  to  form  a  part  of  this  report  since 
time  and  opportunity  did  not  allow  such  a  study.  This  phase 
of  the  system  should  be  taken  up  and  studied  carefully  over 
a  considerable  period  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  spirit  existing  within  the  system  is  most  commend- 
dable.  At  all  times  the  school  officials  from  Superintendent 
to  janitors  manifest, an  attitude  of  cheerful  co-operation  and 
industry,  justifiable  pride  in  their  work  and  interest  in 
pupil  welfare  and  progress  which  means  much  in  establish- 
ing and  maintaining  efficiency.  The  entire  system  appears 

23 


to  be  pervaded  with  one  consuming  desire,  viz.,  to  give  the 
children  of  Winston-Salem  the  best  possible  sort  of  school 
training  and  the  taxpayers  full  value  for  their  money.  It  is 
this  spirit  and  motive  which  largely  accounts  for  the  marked 
success  of  the  Winston-Salem  school  product. 

A  PARTICULAR  PROBLEM 

Consideration  of  this  school  system  would  not  be  com- 
plete without  a  statement  concerning  provisions  made  in  it 
for  giving  school  facilities  to  certain  groups  of  citizens  here- 
tofore deprived  of  educational  privileges.  In  other  words 
one  might  ask  what  Winston-Salem 's  illiteracy  problem  is, 
and  how  the  school  system  is  helping  to  solve  it. 

Status  of  Illiteracy  in  Winston-Salem  According  to  the  1910  Census 


Population 
10  years  and  over 

WINSTON 

SALEM 

Number 

Per  cent 

Number 

Per  cent 

Total  illiterate 

2553 
575 
1/59 

805 

18.8 
8.0 
31.0 
17.0 

323 
155 

168 
103 

7.5 
4.7 
17.3 
7.7 

Native  White 

Negro 

Males  of  voting  age__ 

These  figures  will  mean  more  if  a  concrete  illustration  is 
used.  Of  every  twelve  white  residents  in  Winston,  one  can 
neither  read  nor  write.  Of  every  three  negro  residents,  one 
is  unable  to  read  or  write.  In  Salem  the  ratio  is  one  in 
twenty-five,  and  one  in  six;  respectively 

There  are  more  white  illiterates  in  Winston-Salem  than 
there  are  pupils  attending  the  North  and  Fairview  schools,  or 
the  Gran vi lie  and  Central  schools  combined.  There  are  more 
negro  illiterates  in  the  city  than  there  are  negro  pupils  en- 
rolled in  any  three  of  the  negro  schools 

In  North  Carolina  as  a  whole  only  5  per  cent,  or  one  in 
twenty,  of  the  native  white  population  in  the  cities  is  illiter- 
ate and  only  25.5  per  cent  of  the  negro  population,  or  one  in 
four,  in  the  cities  is  illiterate, 

Nor  is  this  the  worst  of  it.  •  If  the  number  of  illiterate 
women  of  voting  age  is  equal  to  the  number  of  illiterate 
males  of  voting  age  it  leaves  1060  children  between  0  and  21 
years  of  age  unable  to  read  and  write, — more  children  than 
the  total  enrollment  of  the  East,  Fairview  and  Central  schools 
combined. 

To  be  sure,  many  of  these  are  negroes,  but  in  a  great 
many  Winston-Salem  families  the  very  first  teachers  of  the 
children  there  are  and  will  be  the  negro  nurse  girls  Ignor- 
ance due  to  illiteracy  is  not  an  efficient  teaching  force. 

In  spite  of  this  situation  Winston-Salem  makes  no  pro- 
vision for  evening  schools  or  special  classes  in  which  to  teach 

24 


this  vast  ar/ny  the  most  elementary  forms  of  learning.  The 
country  children  have  moonlight  schools,  the  city  children 
must  go  on  in  darkness  and  ignorance. 

How  much  longer  must  children  be  neglected?  When  will 
the  citizens  of  this  state  come  to  realize  that  a  good  education 
is  the  bulwark  of  democracy  and  the  richest  heritage  which 
any  community  or  individual  can  pass  on  to  the  children? 
The  only  real  democracy  is  equality  of  opportunity.  That 
equality  must  apply  in  education  if  it  applies  anywhere  in 
our  civil  life.  Winston-Salem  ought  to  provide  more  ade- 
quately for  the  instruction  of  the  illiterates  in  her  midst. 

For  the  year  1914-15  of  the  375  cities  in  the  same  popu- 
lation group  as  Winston-Salem  which  report  to  the  U.  S. 
Commissioner  of  Education,  143  or  38.4  per  cent  of  them  re- 
ported from  1  to  53  teachers  employed  in  evening  schools, 
and  from  20  to  1214  pupils  in  attendance. 

In  this  group  are  included  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  and  Durham, 
N.  C.,  both  of  which  report  evening  schools.  Winston-Salem 
and  Asheville,  belonging  to  this  same  group  make  no  report 
on  evening  schools.  The  total  population,  enrollment,  at- 
tendance, and  expenditures  for  schools  are  greater  in  Win- 
ston-Salem than  in  any  other  one  of  these  cities. 

Clearly  there  is  need  for  such  work  in  Winston-Salem 
and  for  such  schools  to  be  established  there  is  ample  prece- 
dent both  in  this  state  and  throughout  the  nation. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

As  concerns  the  system,  it  is  recommended: 

1.  That   a  very  careful  and  detailed  examination  be 
made  of  the  system  as  concerns  the  courses  of  study 
and  the  methods  of  teaching  with  the  thought  in 
mind  of  reorganizing  the  system  on  the  basis  of  a  six- 
year  elementary  school,  three-year  junior  high  school 
and  a  two-year  or  three-year  senior  high  school. 

2.  That  more  attention  be  paid  to  making  provision  for 
the  individual  differences  of  pupils  by  organizing  sec- 
tions within  the  grades  based  on  different  rates  of 
progress  for  covering  the  work  of  a  given  grade. 

3.  That  every  effort  be  exerted  to  secure  a  degree  of 
uniformity  in  the  work  of  the  several  schools  such 
that  the  transfer  of  pupils  from  one  school  unit  to 
another  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  minimum  loss  of 
time  and  maximum  ease  of  adjustment  for  the  pu- 
pils so  transferred. 

4.  That  provision  be  made  at  once  for  the  education  of 

25 


the  illiterate  children  and  that  ample  opportunity 
for  more  education  be  offered  adults  through  even- 
ing schools  or  special  classes. 

SUMMARY 

The  form  of  public  school  organization  which  obtains  in 
Winston-Salem  may  be  represented  graphically  by  the  ac- 
companying diagram  (q.v.).  Simple,  direct,  it  is  adapted  to 
conditions  in  a  little  community  which  has  no  large  businesses, 
no  greater  interest  than  its  own  little  round  of  daily  affairs. 
Such  a  form  of  organization  is  not  sufficient  for  handling  the 
big  business  of  educating  10,000  children  in  which  Winston- 
Salem  is  engaged. 

Unrelated  to  the  state  and  county  system,  removed  from 
popular  control,  overburdened  with  internal  committees, 
insufficiently  provided  with  supervisors,  and  with  a  too 
greatly  limited  office  force,  such  a  system  overworks  its  su- 
perintendent, lacks  in  the  sense  of  h'xed  responsibility,  and 
in  general  leaves  much  to  be  desired. 

Limited  in  the  control  of  its  finance,  the  Board  of  Edu- 
cation is  hampered  at  every  turn;  removed  from  the  patrons 
to  whom  it  is  responsible,  opportunity  is  offered  for  a  sense 
of  aloofness  to  appear;  individual  and  personal  in  thought 
and  organization,  little  chance  is  given  for  the  development 
of  a  broad  minded  and  far  sighted  social  consciousness  so 
necessary  in  this  day  and  time  when  the  school  is  so  promi- 
nent a  factor  in  social  welfare.  The  present  form  of  organ- 
zation,  for  a  city  of  Winston-Salem's  size  and  importance,  is 
provincial,  antiquated,  out  of  balance,  inefficient. 

Such  a  situation  is  easily  accounted  for  when  one  under- 
stands how  very  rapidly  the  system  has  increased  in  size 
with  little  or  no  time  permitted  in  which  to  consider  the  ma- 
chinery for  school  control.  Conditions  have  demanded  ac- 
tion, immediate  and  direct,  and  the  school  authorities  have 
had  to  meet  the  demand  as  best  they  could.  As  a  result  the 
attempt  has  been  made  to  have  the  machinery  of  a  small 
town  unit  do  the  work  for  a  good-sized  city  and  now  there 
is  undue  strain  which  must  be  relieved. 

The  recommendations  which  have  been  made  concerning 
organization  have  been  made  with  the  thought  in  mind  of  re- 
distributing the  load  and  of  increasing  the  force  with  which 
to  handle  the  increased  demands  more  efficiently.  Perhaps 
no  better  summary  of  the  form  of  efficient  organization  nec- 
essary in  a  city  of  Winston-Salem's  size  can  be  given  than 
that  represented  by  the  diagram  taken  from  Dr.  E.  P,  Cub- 
berley's  book  on  Public  School  Administration,  with  permis- 
sion of  its  publishers,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company. 

26 


Form  of  Organization  of  the  Winston-Saitm  School  System  and  its 
KeJation  to  the  State  and  County  ,  ystetn 


OF  THE  STATE  XI- 
THI  LEGISLATURE 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  CITY 
SCHOOL  DISTRICT 


COU/tTY  5UPFRI/JTINDI- 
1TOF  5CHOOL5 


COMMITTIf   Of 


CITY  5uFiR)/jrfAiDiNT  OF  SCHOOLS 


SFECIAi. 
5UFIKVISO^5 

^ 

Ncr 

CIR 

TrACHI-RS 


PUPILS 


ATTENDANCE 
OFFJCfE 

\ 

{ 

-J  s?rc\/ 
1      TrA 

/ 

(Cubberley,  E.  P.,  Public  School  Administration,  p.  169) 
Courtesy  of  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

Such  a  plan  is  not  one  whit  too  much  of  an  ideal  for 
Winston-Salem,  but  rather,  it  would  be  the  most  practical  and 
business-like  thing  for  the  city  to  do  if  a  similar  plan  of  or- 
ganization can  be  brought  to  pass.  It  is  doubtful  under  the 
conditions  obtaining  in  Winston-Salem  if  the  two  committees 
of  the  Board  of  Education  are  now  necessary,  otherwise  the 
plan  is  worthy  adoption,  in  to  to. 


28 


III.    THE  SCHOOL  PLANT 


Under  this  heading  certain  statements  must  be  made 
which  will  appear  to  the  casual  reader  as  carping  criticism. 

Let  it  be  understood,  however,  that  every  criticism,  every 
suggestion  is  made  in  the  kindest  spirit  and  with  a  desire  to 
make  this  report  as  constructively  useful  as  possible.  The 
one  sole  object  in  mind,  as  the  several  features  of  the  Win- 
ston-Salem  school  plant  were  examined,  was  to  try  to  see 
exactly  how  near  the  city  comes  to  providing  adequately  and 
properly  for  the  welfare  of  her  children  in  school.  There  is 
no  blame  to  be  attached  to  anyone  because  certain  conditions 
are  unfavorable;  that  must  be  placed  at  the  door  of  citizens 
if  they  do  not  see  to  it  that  power  and  means  are  given  the 
school  authorities  to  correct  the  faults.  To  possess  these  de- 
fects is  no  shame,  to  let  them  continue  would  be  a  disgrace. 

THE  BUILDINGS 

Winston-Salem  carries  on  its  school  business  in  eight 
buildings  for  white  children  and  five  for  the  colored.  There 
are  actually,  however,  only  eleven  distinct  units  of  operation. 
At  West  End  School  two  buildings  are  on  the  same  lot  and 
considered  as  one  unit.  The  same  holds  true  for  the  colored 
school  at  Woodland  Avenue.  While  the  North  and  Fairview 
schools  are  considered  as  a  single  supervisory  unit  the 
buildings  are  separated  by  several  blocks  and  call  for  sep- 
arate janitor  service,  heating  plants,  etc.  The  Central  school 
building  is  not  owned  but  rented  by  the  city  which  must, 
however,  keep  it  in  good  repair  and  provide  all  service  and 
supplies  for  it.  Three  of  the  buildings  are  located  on  streets 
with  electric  car  lines  with  the  result  that  the  pupils  and 
teachers  are  not  only  disturbed  by  the  accompanying  noise 
but  in  dry  and  windy  weather  great  clouds  of  dust  roll 
through  the  rooms  to  carry  disease  and  scatter  filth.  School 
buildings  ought  not  to  be  located  near  factories  or  on  noisy 
streets.  When  buildings  are  once  located  permits  should 
never  be  granted  whereby  car  lines,  factories,  or  noisy  traffic 
may  disturb  the  children  in  the  school. 

The  buildings  for  the  white  children  show  about  three 
different  periods  in  school  architecture.  The  old  building 
at  West  End  is  of  the  central  hall  type  with  classrooms  and 
stairways  radiating  therefrom.  High  ceilings,  no  artificial 
method  of  ventilating,  three-side  lighting  (with  obstructing 

29 


'pillars between  the  windows),  wasted  floor  space,  are  char- 
acteristics of  this  type.  The  wooden  portion  of  the  building 
at  East  End  represents  ail  these  defects  and  more. 

The  brick  building  at  East  End  and  the  one  at  North 
End  indicate  a  step  forward  in  building  construction.  These 
buildings  are  charactized  by  a  modified  central  hall  and 
stairway  plan,  less  wasted  floor  space,  costly  and  wasteful 
roof  construction.  In  general,  the  High  School  build  ing  and 
the  primary  building  at  West  End  belong  also  to  this  stage  of 
school  building  construction.  In  both  this  and  the  earlier 
type  of  building  towers  and  cupolas  add  to  the  cost  of  build- 
ing and  repairs  but  not  to  the  beauty  or  efficiency  of  the 
structures. 

The  Fairview  and  Granville  buildings  are  modern,  and 
conform  .closely  to  the  b3st  ideas  in  schoolhouse  construction. 
In  particular  the  Granville  building  is  built  with  a  true  pub- 
lic school  function  in  mind.  Its  swimming  pool, shower  baths, 
provisions  for  the  home-making  classes,  etc.,  speak  its  pur- 
pose as  a  real  community  center*  Like  the  Fairview  building 
it  is  constructed  on  the  unit  plan  and  thus  can  be  added  to  al- 
most without  limit  retaining  all  its  symmetry,  beauty  and 
adaptability  to  school  and  community  use.  The^e  two  build- 
ings are  properly  constructed  and  the  Board  of  Education 
ought  to  continue  its  building  program  on  the  plan  of  these 
structures. 

The  frame  buildings  for  the  colored  schools  are  entirely 
out  of  date.  In  particular,  the  building  at  Depot  street  is  in- 
adequate, poorly  lighted,  without  ventilation,  contains  dark 
stairways  and  corridors,  is  improperly  heated  and  not  at  all 
adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  pupils.  The  building  at  Colum- 
bia Heights  is  a  great  improvement  over  the  other  frame 
buildings  and  will  serve  its  purpose  temporarily.  The  brick 
building  at  Woodland  Avenue,  while  at  present  incomplete 
in  its  equipment  is  correctly  built  and  conforms  to  good 
standards  in  sehoolhouse  construction.  It  is  badly  in  need  of 
proper  heating,  ventilating  and  sanitary  provisions. 

THE  SITES 

'  At  the  time  the  inspection  of  the  buildings  and  grounds 
was  made,  the  playground  area  at  several  of  the  buildings 
was  found  to  be  inadequate.  Since  that  time,  by  a  bond  issue, 
the  city  has  made  possible  the  purchase  of  more  land 
around  some  of  these  buildings  which  will  remedy  these 
conditions.  There  is  no  way  by  which  the  wholly  inad- 
equate space  around  the  High  School  building  can  be 
remedied.  How  inadequate  this  area  is  the  aldermen 
recognized  when  they  passed  an  order  allowing  a  part  of  the 
street  in  front  of  the  building  to  be  closed  to  traffic  during 

30 


such  time  as  the  high  school  pupils  are  having  recess.  While 
the  Granville  site  is  adequate  it  needs  attention.  The  bushes 
and  trees  on  the  rear  of  the  lot  should  be  trimmed  out  and 
and  the  brush  removed.  The  front  lawn  needs  shrubs  and 
grass,  the  play  area  needs  to  be  put  into  proper  condition. 

As  a  whole  the  sites  are  not  properly  located  as  concerns 
the  patrons  of  the  several  schools.  The  site  at  the  East  End 
is  on  the  very  outer  edge  of  its  district  as  the  accompanying 
map  shows,  Some  of  the  pupils  who  attend  the  North  school 
have  to  come  long  distances  and  through  unsuitable  streets 
to  reach  the  building.  The  district  for  the  Granville  and 
Central  schools  are  too  small  as  compared  with  the  other 
districts.  These  two  districts  could  be  consolidated  and  the 
pupils  all  placed  in  one  building.  The  Granville  site  is  well 
chosen  to  make  such  action  possible  and  to  include  any  re- 
cent addition  of  territory  and  children  in  that  section  of  the 
city. 

The  site  of  the  Depot  Street  colored  school  is  entirely  too 
small  though  fairly  well  located  for  the  population  it  serves. 
Some  means  should  be  found  at  once  for  giving  the  children 
in  this  school  more  play  room  or  provision  be  made  for  the 
children  somewhere  else.  When  the  remainder  of  the  new 
building  at  Woodland  Avenue  is  constructed  play  area  here 
will  be- inadequate  also  and  the  available  lot  should  be  secured 
while  possible.  At  both  the  Oak  Street,  Columbia  Heights 
schools  insufficient  play  area  makes  it  advisable  that  whatever 
land  is  available  adjoining  the  present  sites  be  secured  with- 
out delay. 

Little  or  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  beautify  the 
grounds  at  any  of  the  buildings. 

PLAYGROUND  APPARATUS 

There  is  not  appropriate  or  sufficient  playground  appar- 
at  a  single  school  center.  In  fact,  the  entire  system  has 
only  four  giant  strides,  all  at  the  West  End  school,  and  the 
swimming  tank  at  the  Granville  as  its  playground  equipment. 
Of  course  this  equipment  is  entirely  inadequate. 

TEACHING  APPARATUS 

The  buildings  arfe  well  provided  with  blackboard  space,  in 
general  well-located  in  relation  to  the  size  of  the  children 
who  must  work  on  them.  In  particular  this  is  true  at  the 
newer  buildings. 

The  pupils'  desks  in  the  schools  for  the  white  children 
are  of  the  single,  non-adjustable  type.  Many  of  them  are 
old  and  a  considerable  number  are  badly  cut  and  battered 
but  are  being  rapidly  replaced  by  new  desks.  Provision  is 
made  for  taking  care  of  the  boys  and  girls  of  '  'out-sizes"  by 

31 


means  of  placing  a  sufficient  number  of  extra  large  or  extra 
small  desks  in  the  room  as  occasion  demands.  Modern  practice 
is  tending  strongly  in  the  direction  of  adjustable  dtsks  and 
seats  with  a  growing  sentiment  in  favor  of  movable  furni- 
ture for  children  in  school  as  for  adults  in  the  home.  Cer- 
tainly all  through  the  growing  years  much  care  needs  to  be 
taken  to  see  that  children  are  seated  comfortably.  The  par- 
ticular type  of  desk  or  chair  may  mean  little  or  much  accord- 
ing to  the  care  each  teacher  gives  each  pupil  in  attending 
to  bodily  comfort.  The  essential  factor  is  attention  to  pupil 
welfare  and  this  appears  to  be  carefully  given  in  Winston- 
Salem. 

In  schools  for  the  colored  children,  the  desks  are  largely 
of  the  patent,  double,  non-adjustable  type.  This  allows  over- 
crowding and  is  not  conducive  to  easy  maintainance  of  good 
order.  Not  only  is  this  so,  but  where  floor  area  is  planned  for 
,a  given  number,  the  air  space  or  cubical  contents  of  the 
rooms  is  planned  accordingly.  If  more  pupils  are  crowded  in- 
to a  room  than  it  was  planned  to  hold  then  a  sufficient  amount 
of  pure  air  cannot  be  given  to  each  pupil  and  the  children's 
health  will  suffer  thereby. 

In  modern  school  house  construction  16  sq.  ft.  of  class- 
room floor  space  per  pupil  is  the  usual  allowance.  How  far 
short  of  this  Winston-Salem  falls  at  present  the  following 
table  shows. 

Table  showing  the  per  cent  of  classrooms  in  the  Winston- 
Salem  schools  which  are  below  and  equal  to,  or  above  stan- 
dard area  of  floor  space  per  pupil,  based  on  enrollment. 

Below  Standard 
W  hite  Elementary  Schools  __________________  33  f'f  67  % 

High  School  ________________________________  27  %  73% 

Colored  Elementary  Schools  ________  .  85% 


To  put  it  another  way,  there  is  an  actual  maximum 
classroom  floor  space,  if  it  could  be  properly  distributed,  suffi- 
cient to  accommodate  4152  white  children,  'and  1555  colored 
children.  The  total  enrollment  for  the  current  year  up  to 
March  1st  is  3722  for  the  white  schools  and  2181  for  the 
colored.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  compulsory  attend- 
ance law  is  not  rigidly  enforced  the  condition  is  deplorable, 
since  the  rooms  for  the  colored  children  are  already  over- 
crowded, and  too  small  a  margin  allowed  for  uneven  distri- 
bution in  the  schools  for  white  children. 

This  overcrowding  is  particularly  bad  in  one  of  the  high 
school  rooms  where  51  desks  are  crowded  into  a  room  large 
enough  for  only  45.  In  order  to  accomplish  this  the  desks 
are  so  located  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  teacher  to  stand 
at  the  alloted  place  and  see  every  pupil  in  the  room  at  a 
single  glance.  The  room  is  too  full  and  too  much  is  expected 

32    . 


of  a  teacher  when  trying  to  work  under  such   conditions. 

The  equipment  in  printing  and  in  commercial  branches 
is  adequate,  at  least  for  the  present.  A  more  complete 
equipment  for  cooking  and  sewing  is  needed  for  the  work  in 
the  elementry  schools;  at  the  high  school  this  type  of  equip- 
ment is  excellent.  The  manual  training  equipment  is  ade- 
quate for  present  needs.  There  are  no  science  laboratories 
and  only  $100  worth  of  chemicals  and  apparatus  for  class  dem- 
onstration in  the  teaching  of  science.  This  is  absolutely  in- 
adequate and  insufficient.  It  is  impossible  to  teach  science 
efficiently  without  laboratories  and  apparatus.  There  -is  lit- 
tle use  in  supplying  apparatus  without  seperate  rooms  for 
labatories  and  of  course,  laboratories  without  equipment  are 
merely  waste  space.  The  provisions  for  the  mechanical 
drawing  class  is  not  sufficient  and  the  classroom  is  not 
properly  adapted  for  such  work.  The  tables  are  unsteady, 
the  lighting  is  not  right,  and  no  chance  is  given  for  proper 
control  and  care  of  instruments  or  specimens  of  work  done. 

In  none  of  the  schools  is  there  a  sufficient  supply  of  maps, 
globes,  charts,  and  other  teaching  apparatus  so  necessary  in 
these  days  when  visual  instruction  is  so  greatly  emphasized. 

Some  attention  is  paid  to  room  libraries  but  not  enough. 
The  high  school  students  are  most  fortunate  in  their  proxim- 
ity to  the  Carnegie  library  and  in  the  hearty  spirit  of  cp-pper- 
atipn  with  the  educational  interests  which  pervades  this  insti- 
tution. 

HEATING  AND  VENTILATION 

Little  difficulty  is  encountered  in  providing  a  sufficient 
amount  of  heat  for  the  school  buildings.  All  the  white 
schools -are  equipped  with  heating  plants.  The  rooms  in  the 
colored  schools  are  provided  with  unjacketed  stoves.  No  pro- 
vision is  made  by  which  to  care  for  humidifying  the  air,  and 
in  the  old  buildings  the  provisions  for  distributing  the  heat 
are  inadaquate. 

In  the  new  buildings  proper  care  has  been  taken  to  ven- 
tilate the  classrooms  by  the  use  of  fans  forcing  the  air  through 
separate  ducts  for  each  room.  In  these  buildings  also  proper 
care  has  been  taken  to  ventilate  the  clcakrrcrrs  ard  waid- 
robes.  In  the  old  buildings  dependance  must  be  placed  on 
window  adjustment  for  ventilation;  in  rare  cases  window 
boards  are  used  where  such  a  condition  exists.  The  vent- 
ilating system  for  the  high  school  is  antiquated  and  insuf- 
ficient. 

The  best  authorities  agree  in  calling  for  about  2000  cu.  ft., 
of  air  per  hour  per  pupil  in  the  primary  grades,  2500  cu.  ft. 
per  hour  per  pupil  in  the  grammar  grades,  3000  cu.  ft.  per 
hour  per  pupil  in  the  high  school.  No  tests  were  made  to 

33 


determine  exactly  how  near  Winston-Salem  comes  to  these 
standards  but  clearly  in  the  buildings  depending  upon  window 
ventilation  alone  such  an  amount  of  air  per  pupil  cannot  pos- 
sibly be  supplied,  nor  can  the  so-called  "gravity  systems"  of 
ventilation  be  depended  upon  to  meet  these  requirements. 

JANITOR  SERVICE 

The  janitor  service  is  uniformly  good.  The  visits  for  in- 
spection were  made  at  different  times  during  the  days  and  in 
all  cases  the  rooms  and  corridors  gave  evidence  of  care  and 
thoroughness  on  the  part  of  the  janitors.  Some  of  the  jan- 
itors still  use  the  feather  duster.  Prepared,  sanitary  dust 
cloths  should  be  substituted  in  these  cases  and  the  janitors 
made  to  use  them.  '1  hese  cloths  remove  the  dust,  feather 
dusters  simply  change  its  position.  Taken  as  a  whole  the 
work  of  the  janitors  is  to  be  commended. 

TOILETS 

As  a  rule  the  toilet  arrangements  are  only  fair,  though 
in  the  newer  buildings  they  are  very  good.  At  the  West 
school  these  arrangements  are  insufficient  but  the  Superin- 
tendent says  plans  are  maturing  for  making  necessary  pro- 
visions. In  the  new  building  at  West  End  the  toilet  rooms 
are  dark  and  not  well  ventilated.  At  the  North  school  the 
odor  from  the  toilets  is  offensive,  the  approach  very  bad. 
Dark  passageways  and  insufficient  light  make  the  conditions 
very  dangerous  for  both  health  and  morals.  The  conditions 
in  the  East  school  are  no  better.  The  floor  is  dirty  and  wet, 
the  approaches  not  satisfactory,  and  obscene  markings  ap- 
pear on  the  walls. 

Only  three  toilets  and  one  urinal  are  provided  at  the 
Central  School  for  119  boys  and  four  toilets  for  92  girls. 
This  is  too  small  an  allotment.  The  toilet  rooms  are  kept 
scrupulously  clean  but  do  not  have  sufficient  light.  At  all 
the  other  buildings  conditions  are  very  much  better. 

At  the  buildings  for  the  colored  children  care  is  taken  to 
watch  these  matters,  but  at  Woodland  Avenue,  the  toilets 
are  of  the  open,  outdoor  type  and  ought  not  to  be  continued. 
Ample  room  is  provided  here  in  the  basement  of  the  new 
building  for  better  arrangements  and  these  should  be  made 
without  delay.  While  the  number  of  toilets  and  urinals  at 
the  Depot  Street  school  is  insufficient  the  authorities  have 
done  everything  possible  to  provide  ample  facilities  and 
have  greatly  improved  the  conditions  which  existed  until  re- 
cently. Present  conditions  are  not  entirely  satisfactory. 

The  number  of  toilets  on  the  whole  is  about  right.  Ow- 
ing to  the  difference  in  demand  according  to  the  age  of  pu- 
pils no  exact  standard  can  be  stated.  If  one  toilet  is  provid- 

34 


ed  for  every  15  girls  and  one  for  every  25  boys  with  one  uri- 
nal also  for  every  20  boys  additional  there  will  be  no  unneces- 
sary crowding  but  really  ample  provision  for  almost  any  sit- 
uation. This  condition  obtains  in  the  newer  buildings  and 
practically  so  in  the  older  ones. 

Plenty  of  space,  plenty  of  light  and  sunshine,  are  fea- 
tures to  be  considered  in  planning  toilet  arrangements  for 
school  buildings.  Dark  basement  rooms,  poorly  ventilated, 
without  sufficient  space  or  equipment  have  no  place  in  mod- 
ern school  buildings.  Moreover,  at  least  two  sizes  of  seats 
ought  to  be  installed  in  all  buildings  and  the  urinals  ought 
to  be  made  of  hammered  glass  since  this  substance  is  non- 
absorbing  and  easily  cleaned. 

DRINKING  FOUNTAINS 

A  sufficient  number  of  sanitary  drinking  fountains  have 
been  installed  in  all  the  schools.  These  need  careful  atten- 
tion in  order  to  keep  them  truly  sanitary  and  they  get  this 
attention.  The  outdoor,  non-freezing  fountains  at  the 
West  End  are  especially  commendable. 

SWIMMING  POOL 

At  the  Granville  school  a  swimming  tank  and  shower  baths 
were  installed  in  the  basement  as  forward  steps  in  making 
the  public  schools  effective  community  centers.  Everyone 
gets  great  good  and  a  wealth  of  pleasure  from  these  pieces 
of  school  equipment.  It  is  desirable  that  more  ideas  of  this 
sort  be  built  into  the  system. 

REPAIRS 

Owing  to  the  poor  quality  of  bricks  used  in  the  East  aud 
North  school  many  unsightly  places  have  appeared  in  the 
outside  walls  of  these  buildings  which  need  attention.  All 
the  frame  buildings  need  to  be  repainted  if  they  are  to  be 
preserved  and  the  exposed  woodwork  on  all  buildings 
needs  painting.  The  walls  and  ceilings  at  the  North  school 
were  poorly  constructed  and  have  had  to  be  patched.  Other 
places  are  weak  or  cracked  and  in  some  instances  dangerous 
for  the  children.  The  plaster  over  the  entire  North  building 
needs  to  be  removed  and  the  walls  and  ceilings  re-plastered. 

As  a  whole  the  buildings  are  kept  in  fairly  good  condi- 
tion but  there  are  a  few  broken  window  lights,  some  rotted 
pillars,  a  slight  lack  of  attention  to  minor  matters  like  crack- 
ed plastering,  spring  doors,  imperfect  door  knobs  and  locks, 
etc  ,  which  need  greater  care  and  nearly  all  the  walls  and 
ceilings  ought  to  be  re-tinted  according  to  approved  stand- 
ards of  color. 

At  the  high  scoool  building  and  at  both  the  Fairview  and 

35 


Granville  schools  there  is  evidence  of  a  slight  lack  of  care 
about  providing  for  the  settling  of  the  building  after  com- 
pletion. Perhaps  this  was  unavoidable  but  great  care  heeds 
to  be  exercised  in  this  matter.  While  this  situation  is  not 
always  a  source  of  danger  it  may  well  be  if  not  given  due  at- 
tention. New  ground,  unseasoned  lumber,  insufficient  sup- 
ports, lack  of  proper  consideration  of  stresses,  are  all  con- 
tributing factors  in  causing  such  defects. 

THE  HIGH  SCHOOL  SITUATION 
/ 

Certain  conditions  at  the  High  School  are  so  important 
that  it  seems  wise  to  discuss  them  in  a  separate  section,  and 
perhaps  here  is  the  best  place. 

The  building  is  not  properly  located  in  relation  to  the 
district  it  serves.  The  high  school,  or  at  least  its  academic 
department  ought  to  be  from  1-4  to  1-8  mile  further  west 
than  at  present.  If  the  plan  of  a  junior  high  school  were 
adopted  the  present  building  might  serve  to  house  it  for  the 
present  and  combine  with  it  the  high  school  industrial, 
commercial,  and  home-making  departments  with  the  thought 
of  the  building  later  becoming  the  vocational  high  school 
center. 

The  present  building  is  not  large  enough.  The  un- 
graded class  has  to  meet  in  a  basement  room  of  the  Carnegie 
library.  The  place  was  never  intended  as  a  schoolroom  and 
is  not  properly  or  sufficiently  lighted,  heated  or  ventilated. 
The  very  room  which  ought  to  be  the  brightest,  best  lighted, 
most  comfortable,  and  best  arranged,  is  cheerless,  isolated, 
cold,  and  uncomfortable.  The  condition  here  is  not  fair  to 
teacher  or  pupils,  especially  because  the  very  raison  d'etre 
of  this  class  is  to  try  to  prolong  the  school  life  of  the  pu- 
pils in  it;  its  surroundings  hinder  rather  than  help. 

The  commercial  department  has  had  to  be  movTed  out  of 
the  high  school  building  and  located  in  rooms  never  intended 
for  and  hence  poorly  adapted  to  any  sort  of  school  work.  The 
pupils  taking  work  in  this  department  have  to  vibrate  be- 
tween these  rooms  and  those  in  the  High  School,  thereby  ex- 
posing themselves  to  all  kinds  of  weather  and  also  tending  to 
destroy  that  sense  of  relationship  between  culture  and  indus- 
try so  necessary  in  our  modern  business  life.  The  best  pos- 
sible has  been  made  of  a  difficult  situation  but  that  best  is 
not  even  good. 

If  the  work  in  vocational  and  industrial  training  is  to  be 
extended  and  brought  up  to  standard,  which  ought  to  be  done, 
more  room  and  equipment  is  necessary.  A  good  start  has 
be«n  made  in  helping  to  develop  the  boy  and  girl  gifted  with 
manual  skill  and  dexterity  but  better  and  more  ample  room 
must  be  provided  for  teaching  the  productive,  decorative  and 


domestic  arts  and  sciences  or  only  mediocre  results  can  be 
expected. 

There  are  no  science  laboratories  and  no  rooms  available 
for  them  in  the  building.  As  a  result  there  is  little,  very 
little  science  apparatus.  One  might  as  well  expect  to  farm 
without  a  plow,  or  to  manufacture  cotten  goods  without  ma- 
chinery as  to  teach  science  without  laboratories  and  apparatus. 

There  is  no  playground  space  at  or  near  the  building  ex- 
cept as  a  part  of  one  street  is  roped  off  during  recess  time. 
Not  only  so,  but  there  is  not  even  the  excuse  of  a  gymnasium 
or  playroom  to  take  the  place  of  the  outdoor  play  area.  Play 
and  recreation  is  as  necessary  for  the  complete  development 
of  youth  as  are  books  and  libraries.  More  playroom  is  need- 
ed for  the  high  school  pupils. 

All  the  classrooms  are  too  large,  seven  are  too  long,  five 
are  too  wide.  As  a  result  eight  of  the  rooms  have  more 
desks  in"  them  than  they  ought  to  have,  allowing  the  classes 
to  be  too  large  for  the  best  work  and  overworking  the  teach- 
er. A  class  room  ought  not  to  contain  over  700  sq.  ft., of 
floor  space  and  not  over  42  desks,  40  would  be  better.  This 
space  can  be  best  proportioned  by  making  the  room  30  ft. 
long  and  23  ft.  wide.  A  longer  room  makes  it  difficult  for 
the  pupils  at  the  back  of  the  room  to  hear  all  the  teacher  says 
or  to  see  clearly  what  is  being  put  on  the  blackboard.  If  the 
room  is  wider  than  this  and  lighted  from  one  side  only,  as  it 
should  be,  sufficient  light  cannot  carry  to  the  row  of  desks 
furthest  removed  from  the  windows  or  to  the  blackboard  op- 
posite the  windows.  The  desks  should  be  so  placed  that  the 
light  may  come  in  on  the  pupils  left  side  and  that  the  teach- 
er may  be  able  to  see  every  desk  or  pupil  at  a  single  glance. 
These  conditions  do  not  obtain  in  the  high  school  classrooms. 

The  auditorium  is  badly  in  need  of  repair  and  re-decora- 
tion. It  is  unfortunate  that  this  room  is  on  the  second  floor 
where  no  school  auditorium  should  be. 

The  wardrobe  provisions  are  far  from  ideal  but  much 
better  than  the  situation  originally  was  when  no  provision 
at  all  was  made,  Unventilated,  open  to  the  corridors,  set 
off  by  only  low  partitions,  jutting  out  into  the  corridors  they 
they  present  a  hazard  in  case  of  fire  or  panic  and  an  un- 
sightly appearance  as  makeshift  construction. 

Enrollment  in  the  high  school  increases  around  50  pupils 
each  year  as  the  following  figures  show. 

High  School  Enrollment 

1910-11..  ..202 

1911-12 _>_ 213  11  increase 

1912-13 230  17 

1913-14 281  51 

1914-15 326  45- 

37 


1915-16 392  66 

1916-17.. .. 437  45 

Not  only  so  but  the  tendency  is  all  toward  a  still  more 
rapid  increase  in  enrollment.  The  present  building  is  not 
sufficient  to  care  for  more  than  440  pupils  on  the  basis  of  40 
pupils  to  the  class-room,  and  then  no  provision  is  made  for 
laboratories  and  workrooms  for  special  subjects. 

It  might  be  said  that  the  high  school  population  of  Win- 
ston-Salem  is  increasing  at  a  sufficient  rate  to  demand  three 
additional  class-rooms  every  two  years.  The  present  build- 
ing is  filled  to  overflowing  as  has  been  stated.  Within  two 
years  three  more  rooms  will  surely  be  needed,  and  probably 
more  even  if  the  policy  of  sending  some  of  the  classes  to 
rooms  outside  the  building  is  continued,  which  ought  not  to 
obtain. 

There  is  at  present  a  clear  immediate  demand  for  a  min- 
imum of  one  room  for  the  ungraded  class,  three  rooms  for 
the  commercial  work,  two  rooms  for  manual  training,  one 
room  for  mechanical  drawing,  and  one  science  laboratory. 
Those  are  the  minimum  and  the  immediate  needs  with  the 
prospect  of  needing  at  least  one  more  room  within  the  next 
year  to  care  for  the  increased  enrollment. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

For  the  improvement  of  the'school  plant  it  is  recommen- 
ded: 

1.  That  the  present  policy  of  constructing  two-story, 
brick  buildings  on   the  unit-plan  and  according   to 
the  best  principles  of  school  architecture  be  contin- 
ued. 

2.  That  no  more  frame  building  be  built. 

3.  That  the  Depot  Street  building  be  abandoned  and  a 
new  building  be  erected  there  as  soon  as  possible. 

4.  That  the  Woodland  Avenue  brick  structure  be  com- 
pleted. 

5.  That  a  heating  and  ventilating  system  be  installed 
for  this  building  and  proper  toilet  facilities  be  pro- 
vided. 

6.  That  proper  care  and   forethought  be  taken  in  con- 
structing new  buildings  to  see  that  they  are  located 
in  relation  to  the  district  they  are  to  serve  and  in 
relation  to  car  lines,  factories,  noisy  streets,  etc. 

7.  That  the  Central  school  building  be  abandoned  as 

38 


soon  as  the  present  lease  expires  and  that  the  dis- 
trict served  by  this  school  be  consolidated  with  Gran- 
ville  district. 

8.  That    playground   apparatus    be   placed  at  all  the 
schools. 

9.  That  more  adequate  teaching  apparatus  be  provided 
in  all  the  schools. 

10.  That  no  more  double  desks  be  purchased  for  any  of 
the  schools. 

11.  That  up-to-date  heating  and  ventilation  'systems  be 
installed  in  all  new  buildings. 

12.  That  care  be  taken  to  secure  correct  and  sufficient 
toilet  facilities  in  all  buildings, 

13.  That  all  needed  repairs  be  made  at  once. 

14.  That  a  new  high  school  building  be  constructed  at 
once  and  that  it  be  located  with  regard  to  the  sug- 
gestions previously  made  about  new  buildings.    This 
building  is  immediately  necessary. 


IV.    THE  PUPILS 


NUMBERS 

The  magnitude  of  Winston-Salem's  school  business  may 
be  understood  when  one  learns  that  in  this  current  year 
there  have  been  enrolled  3222  white  children  and  2139  col- 
ored children  in  the  grade  schools  alone.  To  this  can  be 
added  414  in  the  high  school,  making  a  total  enrollment  of 
5775  pupils  as  the  supply  of  raw  material  for  this  business. 

A  better  idea  may  be  secured  perhaps  if  one  sees  the  ac- 
tual increase  in  enrollment  over  a  period  of  years.  The  fol- 
lowing table  shows  the  enrollment  for  each  of  the  school 
years  1913-14,  1916-17,  at  each  of  the  grade  school  buildings 
for  white  children.  The  figures  in  this  form  for  the  negro 
children  are  not  easily  obtainable  but  they  would  show  a  like 
if  not  a  greater  increase.  The  first  column  of  this  table 
shows  the  actual  number  of  desks  and  chairs  provided  for 
the  pupils  enrolled. 

White  Schools 


No.  of 
Sittings 

ENROLLMENT 

1916-17 

1915-16 

1914-15 

1913-14 

West  End:  

973 
665 
263 
622 
230 
456 

917 
758 
272 
641 
224 
443 

892 
615 
285 
604 
227 
408 

884 
647 
274 
494 
196 
359 

808 
578 
258 
476 
185 
300 

North 

Fairview  -   - 

East  .  -       -       

Central  

Granville  _.   _,  

Total  _     . 

3209 

3255. 

3031 

2854 

2605 

At  a  glance  it  is  evident  that  there  has  been  a  very  rapid 
increase  in  white  enrollment  during  these  years.  In  round 
numbers,  the  enrollment  in  the  white  schools  has  increased 
about  200  pupils  yearly.  That  means  about  five  new  rooms 
are  needed  every  year  to  meet  the  actual  needs  of  natural 
growth.  To  put  it  another  way,  on  the  average  through  the 
year  Winston-Salem  needs  a  new  schoolroom  every  two 
months  to  provide  adequately  for  its  normal  increase  in 
white  school  population  alone.  More  vividly  still,  it  may  be 

40 


said  that  one  new  pupil  has  been  enrolled  in  the  white  grade 
schools  every  day  the  schools  have  been  in  session  for  the 
past  four  years.  . 

Is  it  any  wonder  then,  as  the  table  shows,  the  present 
number  of  desks  is  inadequate  for  the  enrollment  in  the 
grade  schools.  If  the  daily  attendance  wtre  what  it  ought 
to  be  the  present  seating  capacity  would  be  barely  sufficient 
and  at  some  of  the  buildings  there  Would  be  greatly  over- 
crowded rooms. 

There  seems  little  reason  to  expect  that  the  year  1917-18 
will  see  any  falling  off  in  this  increase  of  school  enrollment 
and  some  plan  must  be  devised  to  meet  the  situation.  Two 
ways  are  open  for  the  solution  of  this  problem.  The  most 
obvious  way  is  to  build  enough  new  rooms  to  care  for  this  in- 
crease; the  other  way  is  to  see  just  where  this  increase  is, 
i.  e.,  during  which  school  years  and  at  which  school  centers 
and  try  to  discover  a  way  to  handle  the  situation. 

The  following  table  shows  where  this  increase  and  this 
congestion  is  the  greatest  for  the  white  schools. 


Table  Showing  Enrollment  in  the  Different  Grades  of  the 
Winston-Salem  Schools  Over  a  Period  of  Four  Years 

White  Schools 


FIRST  GRADE 

SECOND  GRADE 

1913-14 

175 
119 
117 
177 
41 
104 

1914-15 

1915-16 

1916-17 

1913-14 

1914-15 

1915-16 

1916-17 

West  End  __ 
North 

198 
122 
120 
161 
68 
99 

169 
115 
110 
192 

78 
112 

175 
125 
113 
204 
81 
113 

'125 
90 

78 
100 
39 
57 

111 

100 
92 
110 
37 
67 

144 
77 
92 
125 
41 
76 

136 
83 

101 
128 
33 

77 

Fairview  
East 

Central 

Granville  
Total  
Increase  

733 

1 

768 
35 
mRD 

776 

8 

811 
35 

489 

517 

28 

555 
38 

557 
2 

West  End..  . 
North 

GRADE 

FOURTH  GRADE 

162 
73 
63 
55 
29 
41 

154 
76 
62 
84 
32 
45 

126 

47 
83 
117 
31 
68 

142 

98 
48 
111 
33 
70 

113 
115 

54 
35 
50 

138 
126 

59 
25 
59 

142 
126 

74 
25 
73 

134 
130 

79 
34 
fl 

Fairview  .  
East     -   .-     - 

Central 

Granville  
Total   

423 

453 
30 

472 
19 

502 
30 

367 

407 

40 

440 
37 

228 

88 

Increase  

41 


Table  Showing  Enrollment  in  the  Different  Grades  of  the  Winston- 
Salem  Schools  Over  a  Period  of  Four  Years.     (Continued.) 

White  Schools 


West  End  
North  

FIFTH  GRADE 

SIXTH 

GRADE 

1.)  13-14 

1914-15 

1915-16 

1916-17 

1913-14 

1914-15 

1915-16 

1916-17 

110 

86 

38 
22 
22 

105 
126 

35 
34 
26 

119 
102 

44 
23 

28 

126 
101 

65 
24 
40 

84 
60 

26 
19 

18 

109 
81 

27 
32 

117 

82 

30 
29 
32 

114 
95 

28 
20 
25 

Fairview  
East 

Central  - 

Granville 

Total 

278 

296 

18 

316 
20 

356 
40 

207 

249 
42 

290 
41 

282 

8* 

Increase  

SEVENTH  GRADE 

West  End             .             

39 
35 

26 

8 

69 
46 

18 
31 

75 
66 

22 
19 

86 
110 

23 

27 

North                -       -   -   -   -   --   

Fairview 

East 

Central 

Granville                              -   -   -   - 

Total   -     

215 

199 
16* 

204 
5 

246 
42 

Increase  ___     ___           L_       -_   

*Decrease 

Clearly  the  increase  is  at  no  one  point  in  the  system  but 
spread  through  all  the  grades,  though  the  immediate  diffi- 
culty appears  at  the  North  and  East  schools.  Some  of  the 
third  grade  increase  at  the  North  school  may  be  cared  for  at 
the  Fairview  school.  This  single  change  will  not  clear  up 
the  situation  very  much  so  far  as  meeting  the  1917-18  de- 
mand is  concerned.  It  is  probable  that  the  only  relief  is  to 
be  found  in  the  so-called  "platoon  plan,"  unless  the  city  can 
build  more  school  buildings  at  once. 

At  the  West  End,  North  and  East  Schools,  with  Central 
and  Granville  consolidated,  the  platoon  plan  may  be  a  very 
happy  solution  of  the  problem.  The  plan  permits  two  sets 
of  pupils  to  use  the  same  building  during  the  same  day.  It 
involves  reorganization  of  both  the  teaching  force  and  the 
course  of  study,  more  playground  and  teaching  apparatus  is 
needed,  and  a  larger  supervisory  force.  Even  with  these  in- 
creased demands,  however,  the  plan  would  be  a  cheaper  so- 
lution of  the  overcrowing  than  a  building  program  would  be, 
and  might  prove  most  beneficial  to  the  children  judging  from 
the  experience  of  other  cities  which  use  it.  The  Superinten- 

42 


dent  of  Schools  is  familiar  enough  with  the  plan  that  further 
explanation  of  it  need  not  be  made  in  this  report. 

Perhaps  partial  relief  may  be  secured  by  having  one  set 
of  primary  childien  attend  school  in  the  morning  and  another 
set  attend  to  the  same  teacher  in  the  afternoon.  This  would 
necessitate  a  re-arrangement  of  school  hours  for  the  primary 
teachers,  more  supervision  of  the  primary  work,  and  more 
pay  for  the  primary  teachers  who  do  this  extra  work. 

This  last  plan  might  be  the  best  one  at  present  in  the 
schools  for  the  colored  children  since  the  very  large  part  of 
the  overcrowding  here  is  in  the  primary  grades.  Ultimately, 
a  larger  building  program  or  adoption  of  the  platoon  plan 
must  be  considered  for  the  colored  children,  since  the  col- 
ored school  population  is  increasing  rapidly. 

Without  doubt,  this  problem  of  rapidly  increasing  school 
population  is  the  greatest  single  problem  which  now  con- 
fronts the  Winston-Salem  school  authorities.  It  reaches  out 
into  every  field  of  the  administration  of  the  city's  school 
system  and  vitally  affects  the  future  welfare  of  the  entire 
population.  From  it  evolve  questions  of  finance,  teaching 
force,  supervisory  officer?,  equipment,  course  of  study, 
schedules,  etc  ,  which  can  be  solved  only  by  most  careful 
consideration. 

IN  SCHOOL  AND  OUT 

Reference  has  been  previously  made  to  the  enrollment 
and  attendance  record  of  Winston-Salem,  In  order  that  this 
problem  may  be  clearly  set  forth  and  Winston-Salem's  rec- 
ord in  relation  to  other  cities  of  its  size  made  known  the  fol- 
lowing table  has  been  worked  out  from  the  report  of  the  U. 
S.  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1914-15,  which  was  the 
last  available  report  at  the  time  this  study  was  made. 

Table  showing  per  cent  of  school  population  enrolled  in  school  and  per 
cent  of  enrollment  attending  daily  in  25  cities  of  the  same  popula- 
tion group  as  Winston-Salem,  for  1914-15. 


CITY 

Percent 
Enrolled 

Rank 

Percent 
Attending 

Rank 

Selma,  Alabama_ 

47 

23 

84 

10 

Eureka,  California  (No  Report)  
Danburv  Connecticut 

64 

14 

85 

7 

Columbus,  Georgia  "                _   - 

77     . 

7 

76 

18 

Galesburg,  Illinois           _  _   _  _ 

52 

19 

86 

6 

Hammond,  Indiana  

61 

15 

61 

23 

Burlington  Iowa 

70 

9  ' 

88 

3 

Coffevville  Kansas 

96 

4 

69 

22 

Monroe  Louisiana                      _   - 

82 

6 

84 

10 

Peabodv,  Massachusetts  

91 

5 

88 

3 

Ann  Arbor,  Michigan   

75 

8 

85 

7 

St  Cloud  Minnesota 

49 

22 

85 

7 

Hannibal.  Missouri   . 

58 

17 

81 

15 

43 


Laconia,  New  Hampshire 

69 

10 

87 

Irvington,  New  Jersey  (No  report) 
Dunkirk,  New  York  

61 

15 

82 

14 

Durham,  North  Carolina 

59 

18 

77 

'17 

WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C. 

51 

20 

73 

19 

Lakewood,  Ohio       _ 

69 

10 

90 

2 

Enid,  Oklahoma              __     

112 

1 

79 

16 

Butler,  Pennsylvania 

103 

3 

84 

10 

Cranston,  Rhode  Island 

105 

2 

72 

20 

Marshall,  Texas 

69 

10 

71 

21 

Staunton,  Virginia     

68 

13 

83 

13 

Ashland.  Wisconsin     _               _   _ 

50 

21 

91 

1 

Median      _       

69 

84 

Of  course  the  Winston-Salem  report  includes  all  schools, 
white  and  colored.  This  is  true  in  all  the  other  southern 
states,  however,  and  the  comparison  is  fair  even  considering 
this  fact  of  the  other  southern  cities  included  in  this  table. 
Columbus,  Ga.,  Monroe,  Ala.,  Enid,  Oklahoma,  and  Staun- 
ton, Va.,  all  rank  higher  in  both  particulars  than  does  Win- 
ston-Salem. 

This  table  shows  that  Winston-Salem  enrolls  only  one- 
half  of  her  school  population,  and  that  only  three-fourths  of 
those  enrolled  are  in  actual  daily  attendance.  Not  only  so, 
but  in  both  cases  Winston-Salem  is  much  lower  in  actual  per- 
centage than  the  median  per  cent  for  the  twenty-five  cities. 
Only  three  cities  report  a  lower  percentage  of  enrollment 
and  four  report  a  lower  percentage  in  attendance. 

No  further  comment  is  necessary  to  show  that  Winston- 
Salem  does  not  give  proper  care  to  the  question  of  school  en- 
rollment and  attendance.  Too  many  children  are  not  en- 
rolled in  school  and  too  many  are  absent  who  should  be  in 
attendance. 

PLACEMENT 

All  the  forgoing  has  a  direct  effect  upon  the  success  of 
the  school  system  in  giving  to  the  city  full  value  for  its 
school  money.  The  Superintendent  has  repeatedly  called 
attention  in  his  annual  reports  to  the  relation  between  school 
attendance  and  pupil  progress  through  the  grades.  Princi- 
pals and  teachers  realize  this  relationship  and  do  their  ut- 
most to  remedy  unfavorable  conditions  but  they  cannot  do 
it  all. 

In  view  of  what  has  been  shown  about  poor  attendance 
records  and  in  view  of  the  close  relation  existing  between  at- 
tendance and  pupil  progress  it  is  interesting  to  study  the 
number  and  percentages  of  children  who  are  making:  or  not 
making  normal  progress  through  the  grades  of  the  Winston- 
Salem  schools. 

The  following  tables  show  the  enrollment  of  children  of 

44 


different  ages,  the  number  in  each  grade,  the  number  and 
percentage  above  normal  age  for  all  white  schools,  elemen- 
tary and  high,  and  for  the  colored  schools.  The  figures  are 
for  the  current  year,  1916-17. 

Age-Grade  Distribution.     Net  enrollment  on  March  1,   1917.     Number 
and  Per  cent  of  Pupils  above  Normal  Age. 

All  White  Elementary  Schools 


AGE 

Above 

Above 

ft  "p  A  T^TT1 

Total 

Nnr 

ISJnr 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

J.  O  ttll 

JA  or. 
Age 

IN  or. 
Age 

Boy' 

112 

131 

76 

44 

26 

7 

9 

0 

3 

410 

167 

41 

1  Girls 

142 

131 

72 

20 

16 

7 

9 

c 

399 

126 

32 

Total 

254 

262 

148 

64 

42 

14 

18 

4 

3 

809 

293 

36 

Boys 

48 

99 

64 

41 

17 

7 

6 

6 

288 

141 

48 

2  Girls 

64 

103 

52 

28 

12 

8 

r 
A 

1 

270 

103 

38 

Total 

112 

202 

116 

tmfmm 

69 

29 

15 

8 

7 

558 

244 

43 

Boys 

10 

60 

75 

62 

39 

25 

19 

1 

1 

292 

147 

50 

3  Girls 

12 

69 

72 

50 

35 

14 

8 

2 

1 

263 

110 

42 

Total 

22 

129 

147 

112 

M^H 

74 

39 

27 

3 

2 

555 

257 

46 

Boys 

2 

43 

59 

60 

42 

22 

7 

7 

1 

243 

139 

57 

4  Girls 

8 

43 

64 

53 

35 

27 

4 

5 

239 

124 

52 

Total 

10 

86 

123 

113 

77 

49 

11 

12 

1 

482 

263 

54 

Boys 

1 

16 

35 

43 

39 

19 

13 

6 

2 

174 

122 

70 

5  Girls 

30 

60 

37 

32 

15 

7 

1 

182 

92 

50 

Total 

1 

46 

95 

80 

71 

34 

20 

7 

2 

356 

214 

60 

Boys 

23 

33 

36 

24 

13 

7 

1 

137 

81 

59 

6  Girls 

1 

32 

41 

35 

25 

5 

2 

1 

142 

68 

48 

Total 

, 

1 

55 

74 

71 

49 

18 

9 

1 

1 

279 

149 

53 

Boys 

1 

18 

35 

38 

19 

11 

2 

1 

1 

126 

72 

57 

7  Girls 

19 

36 

21 

33 

6 

3 

2 

120 

65 

54 

Total 

1 

37 

71 

59 

52 

17 

5 

3 

1 

246 

137 

56 

Total 

» 

Boys 

112 

189 

237 

227 

204 

182 

177 

159 

98 

53 

25 

4 

2 

1 

1670 

869 

52 

Girls 

142 

207 

252 

187 

189 

199 

163 

142 

68 

51 

9 

4 

2 

1615 

688 

43 

Total 

254 

396 

489 

414 

393 

381 

340 

301 

166 

104 

34 

8 

4 

1 

3285 

1557 

47 

45 


All  White  Elementary  Schools  (Continued) 


GRADE 

12 

13 

14 

A 

15 

GE 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Total 

Above 
Nor. 
Age 

% 
Above 
Nor. 
Age 

Boys        _   _   .:_ 

1 

4 

5 

1 

11 

11 

100 

7     Girls 

3 

6 

9 

1 

12 

12 

100 

Total  -   ... 

4 

10 

7 

1 

1 

23 

23 

100 

Boys  

5 

16 

•MM 

24 

20 

10 

13 

4 

3 

95 

50 

52 

8    Girls 

1 

7 

17 

99 

11 

3 

9 

1 

64 

39 

61 

Total 

6 

2,3 

41 

4?, 

21 

16 

6 

4 

159 

89 

56 

Boys    -  -  

9 

mmw 

11 

16 

13 

3 

1 

4 

57 

37 

65 

9    Girls  

1 

8 

2?, 

20 

4 

2 

1 

1 

59 

28 

47 

Total 

1 

17 

33 

36 

17 

5 

2 

5 

116 

65 

56 

Boys  

7 

mmtm 
11 

6 

8 

3 

35 

17 

48 

10    Girls        .... 

10 

23 

7 

8 

1 

2 

51 

18 

35 

*     TotaL-_  _ 

17 

34 

13 

16 

4 

2 

86 

35 

41 

Boys 

1 

4 

uv. 

10 

3 

1 

2 

21 

6 

29 

11    Girls 

1 

11 

10 

8 

2 

32 

10 

31 

Total 

?, 

15 

20 

11 

3 

2 

53 

16 

30 

Boys  

5 

16 

34 

43 

46 

42 

18 

8 

7 

219 

121 

55 

Total     Girls  

1 

8 

38 

61 

67 

25 

20 

5 

3 

218 

107 

49 

Total 

6 

24 

62 

104 

113 

67 

38 

13 

10 

437 

228 

52 

Age-Grade  Distribution.     Net  Enrollment  on  March  1,  1917.     Number 
and  Per  cent  of  Pupils  above  Normal  Age. 

All  Colored  Schools 


AGE 

Above 

Above 

GRADE 

, 

— 



— 

— 



Total 

Nor. 

Nor. 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

Age 

Age 

Boys  

125 

108 

89 

54 

44 

~23 

18 

7 

5 

1 

2 

476 

243 

51 

1  Girls-  ._ 

175 

125 

95 

53 

55 

27 

20 

6 

5 

3 

564 

264 

47 

Total-  __ 

300 

233 

i 

184 

•j^^ 

107 

99 

50 

38 

13 

10 

4 

2 

1040 

507 

48 

Boys  

2 

10 

31 

17 

12 

6 

8 

2 

2 

90 

78 

87 

2  Girls--  _ 

16 

21 

29 

28 

21 

9 

5 

3 

2 

134 

97 

65 

Total.  .  - 

18 

31 

60 

45 

33 

15 

13 

5 

4 

224 

175 

78 

Boys—  - 

6 

15 

26 

14 

11 

13 

8 

1 

1 

95 

74 

78 

3  Girls  

14 

27 

27 

23 

14 

10 

4 

3 

122 

81 

66 

Total.  __ 

20 

42 

53 

37 

25 

23 

12 

4 

1 

217 

156 

71 

Boys  

2 

3 

10 

13 

13 

24 

7 

3 

6 

1 

82 

67 

82 

4  Girls—_ 

1 

5 

32 

21 

28 

15 

14 

5 

6 

127 

89 

70 

TotaL-_ 

3 

8 

42 

34 

41 

39 

21 

8 

12 

1 

209 

156 

75 

Boys  

1 

4 

11 

12 

18 

9 

2 

7 

7 

1 

1 

73 

57 

78 

5  Girls...  _ 

3 

9 

15 

20 

26 

18 

3 

4 

1 

2 

1 

102 

75 

74 

Total  __ 

4 

13 

26 

32 

44 

27 

5 

11 

8 

3 

2 

175 

132 

75 

Boys  

5 

12 

8 

6 

5 

8 

5 

3 

4 

56 

39 

70 

6  Girls  

1 

17 

20 

19 

17 

5 

6 

3 

1 

1 

90 

52 

58 

Total--. 

1 

22 

32 

27 

23 

10 

14 

8 

4 

5 

146 

91 

62 

Boys  

1 

4 

11 

3 

2 

2 

1 

7 

31 

26 

84 

7  Girls..-. 

7 

13 

10 

5 

7 

4 

2 

2 

50 

30 

60 

Total-.. 

8 

17 

21 

8 

9 

6 

3 

9 

81 

56 

69 

Boys  

2 

3 

4 

4 

1 

1 

15 

6 

40 

8  Girls... 

1 

1 

8 

6 

6 

2 

4 

28 

12 

43 

Total... 

1 

3 

11 

10 

10 

3 

4 

1 

43 

18 

42 

Boys  

3 

2 

4 

4 

1 

14 

9 

64 

9  Girls— 

4 

4 

7 

5 

6 

3 

1 

30 

10 

33 

Total.  _. 

4 

4 

10 

7 

10 

7 

2 

44 

19 

43 

Total 

Boys—  _ 

125 

110 

107 

104 

101 

78 

75 

85 

55 

23 

30 

20 

6 

12 

932 

599 

64 

Girls  

175 

141 

131 

117 

152 

125 

123 

106 

83 

37 

31 

15 

7 

4 

1247 

710 

60 

Total.  __ 

300 

251 

238 

221 

253 

203 

198 

191 

138 

60 

61 

35 

13 

16 

2179 

1309 

60 

47 


With  such  figures  as  these  as  hand  it  would  be  possible 
to  make  a  long  and  complicated  dissertation.  This,  however, 
is  not  necessary.  Suffice  it  here  to  point  out  one  or  two  out- 
standing situations. 

In  the  white  elementary  schools  every  other  pupil,  prac- 
tically, is  one  year  or  more  behind  in  normal  progress 
through  the  grades,  while  73  pupils,  or  about  2  in  every  100, 
are  four  years  or  more  behind  schedule  time.  In  addition  to 
these  facts  is  the  very  large  amount  of  falling  off,  or  drop- 
ping out  from  the  first  grade  through  the  seventh.  This 
last  matter  will  be  treated  separately  in  succeeding  para- 
graphs. 

In  the  high  school  the  percentage  above  normal  age  is 
also  very  large;  more  than  50%  fail  to  make  normal  prog- 
ress. Here  also  the  number  who  leave  school  mounts  far 
too  high. 

Among  the  colored  children,  where  the  attendance  rec- 
ords show  up  so  very  poorly  the  progress  through  the  grades 
likewise  showrs  up  most  unfavorably.  .  In  several  of  the 
grades  three  out  of  every  four  pupils  are  from  one  to  seven 
years  behind  time  and  in  the  others  two  out  of  every  four 
are  lagging  from  one  to  nine  years  in  the  rear.  On  the 
whole,  three  out  of  every  five  colored  pupils  fail  to  be  pro- 
moted every  year. 

Of  course  there  are  many  other  causes  besides  irregular 
attendance  which  contribute  to  this  condition  in  all  the 
schools.  Poor  health,  contagious  diseases,  crow4ed  rooms 
which  does  not  permit  teachers  an  opportunity  to  give  the 
necessary  individual  attention  to  pupils,  insufficient  teaching 
apparatus,  etc.  No  one  cause  brings  about  this  condition, 
but  a  long  series  of  causes,  attention  to  which  has  been  and 
will  be  called  in  this  report. 

While  it  is  costly  to  provide  all  these  correct  teaching 
conditions,  it  is  much  more  costly  to  have  one-half  the  entire 
student  body  lagging  behind  in  their  work,  repeating  work 
already  gone  over  once. 

Exactly  how  much  worse  this  condition  is  in  Winston- 
Salem  than  elsewhere  can  be  illustrated  by  the  following 
table  which  compares  the  situation  in  the  white  elementary 
schools  with  the  schools  in  eight  other  cities  of  like  size. 
Comment  upon  the  comparison  is  unnecessary. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  of  every  100  pupils  who 
enter  the  first  grade  an  equal  number  will  reach  the  seventh 
grade  or  enter  the  high  school.  Some  of  these  children  will 
move  away,  some  may  die,  others  may  move  into  the  dis- 
trict, etc.  In  order  to  provide  for  such  conditions  in  making 
comparative  studies  the  standard  by  which  to  judge  the 
amount  of  elimination  in  any  system  is  the  so-called  '  'larg- 

48 


t 

<^ 


_cl   Q)  C8 

.Sfg1  S 

^1  1 

^  >  V 


m 


I  o 


O 


O 


CO  I    pQ 

I 


O 


<N         pq 


<£ 

g^H 
O^ 


O 


O 


O 


•^OOOt^t^'^^CO'-i 
COiOCOi-HCOCOCOrfiiO 


*>.  (M  10 

c\i  o  i-I 


(N  00  10 
•^  oi  r-i 


•*  OO  CD 
00  iO  O5 


^^HOr-HT^  r-HCDrt< 


O5  CD  l> 


•'M  CO  1C  <£>  O5  Tt<  r-t 


i— I  CO  IO  r- 1 


a 


ss-'^ 


est  age  group. "  This  is  the  largest  number  of  children  of 
any  one  age  in  a  school  system  for  any  one  given  school  year. 
Comparison  of  one  system  with  another  is  made  by  finding 
the  percentage  relation  between  the  number  in  this  largest 
age  group  and  the  number  in  each  of  the  grades  in  the  sev- 
eral schools  compared.  In  theory  the  percentage  relation 
should  be  100  for  all  the  grades.  Where  it  is  more  than  this 
a  corresponding  amount  of  retardatien  is  evident.  Where 
it  is  less  than  this  a  corresponding  amount  of  elimination  is 
shown. 

The  following  table  compares  Winston- Salem  with  eight 
other  cities  of  its  own  population  group  in  this  way  for  both 
the  white  and  the  negro  schools. 

Table  showing  the  percentage  relation  between  the  largest  age  group 
and  the  number  found  in  each  grade  in   Winston-Salem  compared 
with  certain  other  cities  of  like  size. 
White  Schools 


CITIES 

Lar- 
gest 
Age 
Gr. 

Elementary  School  Grades 

H 

.  S. 
2 

Yea 
3 

rs 
4 

1 

2|3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

1 

Danbury,  Conn.       /  B 

142 
130 

174 
194 

169 
170 

113 
105 

100 

98 

93 
104 

103 

140 

104 

101 

131 
142 

117 
102 

126 
166 

138 
127 

146 
158 

180 
190 

152 
114 

152 
114 

141 
124 

313 

280 

149 
137 

121 
105 

92 
104 

92 

86 

98 
69 

135 
132 

113 

81 

94 

72 

219 
190 

113 
104 

219 
137 

92 

72 

122 
124 

134 
119 

114 

108 

80 
90 

124 

85 

133 
106 

89 
66 

108 
125 

223 

185 

139 
146 

95 
104 

104 
91 

100 
98 

100 

117 

126 
93 

103 
69 

145 
117 

186 
168 

115 
90 

69 

80 

92 
101 

92 
107 

112 
86 

107 

74 

78 
61 

125 
131 

133 

128 

92 
89 

54 
52 

103 
93 

95 
95 

87 
108 

76 

82 

87 
49 

63 
97 

104 
100 

58 
72 

36 
47 

77 
91 

91 

80 

101 
90 

54 
61 

71 
51 

69 

82 

96 

84 

43 
44 

64 
68 

75 
56 

75 
101 

54 
29 

61 
50 

56 

87 

61 
56 

75 
101 

43 
29 

49 
61 

32 
41 

63 
67 

38 
36 

97 
108 

29 
41 

44 
19 

48 
74 

72 
45 

48 
45 

97 
108 

29 
29 

25 
43 

18 

28 

43 
64 

24 

26 

59 

79 

8 
7 

37 
23 

12 
34 

43 
41 

25 
34 

59 
64 

8 

7 

14 
18 

7 
11 

32 

78 

17 
19 

52 
61 

4 
4 

7 
24 

15 
33 

26 
35 

15 
24 

52 
61 

4 

4 

4 
5 

25 
32 

20 
20 

107 
61 

3 
2 

10 
9 

3 
12 

16 

22 

15 

16 

107 
61 

3 
2 

\G 

Columbus,  Ga._  _     .  -  /  B 

\G 
Galesburg,  111.        /  B 

\G 

Peabody,  Mass...     ./B 

\G 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich.      /  B 

\G 

Irvington,  N.  J.       /  B 

\G 

Dunkirk  NY        /B 

(G 

Enid,  Oklahoma,  .  .    .  .  /  B 

VG 

Wlnston-Salem,  N.  C..../B 

\G 

Median             /  B 

113 
130 

169 
194 

93 

98 

146 
127 

313 
280 

117 
102 

122 
108 

223 
185 

80 
66 

104 
104 

186 
168 

100 
91 

107 
90 

133 
128 

78 
61 

87 
93 

104 
108 

54 
49 

71 

80 

101 
91 

36 
47 

VG 

High              /B 

-TO 

Low..            _/B 

\G 

49 


Table  showing  the  percentage  relations  between  the  largest  age  group 
and  the  number  found  in  each  grade  in  Winston-Salem  compared 
with  certain  other  cities  of  like  size. 


Negro  Schools 


CITIES 

Lar- 
gest 
Age 
Gr. 

I 
1 

jlementary  School  Year 

H 
1 

.  S. 

Year 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

92 
89 

54 
52 

103 
93 

95 
95 

87 
118 

76 

82 

87 
49 

63 

97 

45 
51 

7 

8 

3 

4 

Danbury,  Conn.       f  B 

142 
130 

147 
194 

169 
170 

103 
105 

100 

98 

93 
104 

103 
140 

104 
101 

125 
175 

117 
102 

126 
166 

128 
127 

146 
158 

180 
190 

152 
114 

152 
114 

141 
124 

381 
322 

146 
127 

381 
322 

117 
102 

149 
137 

121 
105 

92 
104 

92 
86 

98 
69 

135 

132 

113 

81 

94 

72 

72 
76 

98 
86 

149 
137 

74 
69 

122 
124 

134 
119 

114 
108 

80 
90 

124 

85 

133 

106 

89 
66 

108 
125 

76 
70 

114 
106 

133 

125 

76 

66 

139 
146 

95 
104 

104 
91 

100 
98 

100 
117 

126 
93 

103 
69 

145 
117 

66 
73 

103 

98 

145 
117 

66 
69 

115 
90 

69 

80 

92 
100 

92 
107 

112 
86 

107 
74 

78 
61 

125 
131 

58 
58 

92 
86 

125 
131 

58 
58 

58 
72 

36 
47 

77 
91 

91 
80 

101 
90 

54 
61 

71 
51 

69 

82 

25 

28 

43 
44 

64 

68 

75 
56 

75 

101 

54 

29 

61 
50 

56 

87 

49 
61 

32 
41 

63 

77 

38 
36 

97 

108 

29 
41 

44 
19 

48 
74 

12 
16 

25 
43 

18 

28 

43 

64 

24 
26 

59 
79 

8 

7 

37 
23 

12 
34 

11 
17 

14 

18 

7 
11 

32 

78 

17 
19 

52 
61 

4 
4 

7 
24 

15 
33 

4 
5 

25 
32 

20 
20 

107 
57 

3 
2 

10 
9 

3 

12 

10 
12 

107 
61 

3 

2 

\G 

Columbus,  Ga.        /  B 

to 

Galesburg  111        /B 

to 

Peabody.  Mass.      _  /  B 

to 

Ann  Arbor  Mich.      /  B 

\G 

Irvington,  N.  J._.   /  B 

\Q 

Dunkirk  N.  Y.       /  B 

\G 
Enid.  Oklahoma     .  /  B 

to 

Winston-Salem,  N.C...-/B 

to 

Median..          -/B 

113 
130 

169 
194 

93 
98 

87 
89 

103 
108 

45 

49 

69 

72 

101 
91 

25 

28 

61 
56 

75 
101 

43 

29 

44 
41 

97 
108 

12 
16 

24 

28 

43 
64 

8 

7 

14* 
21| 

52 

78 

4 
4 

/G 
High              /  B 

\Q 

Low-_            ../B 

\G 

These  tables  show  very  clearly  that  in  the  white  schools 
there  is  an  unusual  number  of  repeaters  in  the  first  five 
grades  and  a  rapid  dropping  out  from  the  seventh  grade  on 
through  the  high  school.  In  the  negro  schools  the  first 
grade  percentage  shows  up  a  great  number  of  repeaters  and 
elimination  or  dropping  out  begins  at  once  in  great  numbers 
with  the  second  grade  continuing  on  through  the  two  years 
of  high  school  work  offered  the  negroes. 

These  are  the  facts.    What  the  actual  causes  are  in  the 

50 


case  of  Winston-Salem  can  be  determined  only  by  a  very 
careful  and  systematic  investigation  of  the  course  of  study 
and  methods  of  teaching.  The  working  conditions  as  let 
forth  in  this  report  doubtless  contribute  to  the  present  situ- 
tion  but  they  are  probably  not  fundamental.  It  is  possible 
that  more  provision  needs  to  be  made  for  opportunity  to  give 
individual  attention  to  many  pupils  by  some  plan  of  special 
teachers,  part  time  classes,  vacation  schools,  more  flexible 
promotion,  or  some  other  of  the  various  means  now  used  in 
handling  the  problem  of  retardation  and  elimination.  As 
has  been  said,  the  Superintendent  has  recognized  and  set 
forth  this  condition  of  affairs  in  his  annual  reports  and  the 
time  seems  to  be  at  hand  when  something  needs  to  be  done 
about  it.  What  shall  be  done  rests  with  the  city's  delegated 
school  authorities. 


RECOMMENDATION 

It  seems  wise,  therefore: 

That  the  course  of  study  and  methods  of  teaching  em- 
ployed in  the  schools  be  carefully  investigated  with  the 
idea  in  mind  of  making  such  changes  in  these  two  re- 
spects and  in  respect  to  teaching  conditions  in  general 
as  will  serve  to  prevent  so  great  an  amount  of  retarda- 
tion and  elimination. 


51 


V.    THE  TEACHING  STAFF  AND 
SUPERVISORY  OFFICERS 


By  DR.  J.  H.  JOHNSTON 

The  present  teaching  staff  of  the  Winston-Salem  schools 
includes  142  teachers.  Of  these,  106  are  white  and  36  are 
colored. 

The  following  tables  show  the  important  facts  regarding 
these  teachers.  The  items  recorded  for  each  teacher  in 
order  are:  Grade  or  subject  taught,  School,  Sex,  Color,  Age, 
Years  Training,  Experience  (in  teaching)  in  Winston-Salem, 
Experience  (in  teaching)  Elsewhere,  Salary  Now,  and  Sal- 
ary 1913,  (the  year  Winston  and  Salem  were  consolidated.) 

TABLE  I. 

ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
WHITE 


Years 

Training 

Experience 

I 

t 

JP 

I 

d 

'& 

CO 

«3 

"03 

m 

g 

£ 

1 

CO 

3 

1 

'^ 

| 

"3 

1 

.d 

g 

O 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

o 

d 

I 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Gran. 

F 

W 

40 

4 

1 

18 

$450.00 

$450.00 

2 

1 

Gran. 

F 

W 

40 

2 

8 

6 

517.00 

427.50 

3 

1 

Gran. 

F 

W 

40 

2^ 

2 

16 

495.00 

472.50 

4 

2 

Gran. 

F 

W 

26 

6 

4 

3 

472.50 

405.00 

5 

2 

Gran. 

F 

W 

28 

3 

2 

8 

495.00 

450.00 

6 

3 

Gran. 

F 

W 

23 

4 

4 

405.00 

225.00 

7 

3, 

Gran. 

F 

W 

22 

3 

2 

2 

450.00 

405.00 

8 

4 

Gran. 

F 

W 

26 

5 

3 

3 

495.00 

450.00 

9 

4 

Gran. 

F 

W 

27 

2 

4 

3 

.495.00 

427.50 

10 

3 

Gran. 

F 

W 

28 

3. 

14 

495.00 

450.00 

11 

5 

Gran. 

F 

W 

30 

3 

4 

5 

562.50 

495.00 

12 

7 

Gran. 

F 

W 

25 

4 

2 

3 

562.50 

540.00 

13 

1 

Cen. 

F 

W 

35 

3 

2 

14 

585.00 

540.00 

14 

1 

Cen. 

F 

W 

21 

3 

1 

572.50 

15 

2 

Cen. 

F 

W 

23 

6 

3 

517.50 

450.00 

16 

3 

Cen. 

F 

W 

24 

3 

4 

517.50 

450.00 

17 

4 

Cen. 

F 

W 

28 

4 

3 

5 

585.00 

495.00 

52 


TABLE  I.— CONTINUED 


Years 

Training 

Experience 

I 

. 

1 

1 

f 

0 

'- 

h 

& 

1 

1 

1 

-t-3 

£ 

O 

O 

1 

x 
1 

6 

& 

§ 

0 

fc 

£ 

S 

1 

3 

18 

5 

Cen. 

F 

w 

34 

2 

12 

540.00 

540.00 

19 

6 

Cen. 

F 

w 

26 

2 

4 

2 

585.00 

495.00 

20 

1 

East 

F 

w 

31 

7 

2£ 

517.50 

400^00 

21 

1 

East 

F 

w 

32 

3 

8 

562.50 

495.00 

22 

1 

East 

F 

w 

29 

3 

4 

562.50 

495.00 

23 

1 

East' 

F 

w 

22 

3 

1 

1 

495.00 

24 

2 

East 

F 

w 

22 

2 

2 

472  50 

450.00 

25 

2 

East 

F 

w 

27 

4 

10 

517.50 

427.50 

26 

2 

East 

F 

w 

30 

2 

8 

517.50 

495.00 

27 

3 

East 

F 

w 

23 

3 

1 

4 

495.00 

28 

3 

East 

F 

w 

22 

2 

1 

2 

495.00 

29 

3 

East 

F 

w 

30 

2 

5 

5 

562.50 

495.00 

30 

4 

East 

F 

w 

31 

5 

4 

4 

562.50 

472.50 

31 

4 

East 

F 

w 

48 

4 

20 

2 

562.50 

495.00 

32 

5 

East 

F 

w 

23 

4 

3 

495.00 

360.00 

33 

5 

East 

F 

w 

30 

2 

5 

2 

317.50 

427.50 

34 

6 

East 

F 

w 

35 

4 

13 

585.00 

540.00 

35 

7 

East 

F 

w 

22 

2 

2 

3 

562.50 

495.00 

36 

Asst. 

East 

F 

w 

22 

4 

1 

270.00 

37 

1 

Fair 

F 

w 

35 

4 

4 

10 

657.50 

495.00 

38 

1 

Fair 

F 

w 

28 

4 

1 

5 

540.00 

39 

1 

Fair 

F 

w 

26 

2 

6 

405.00 

315.00 

40 

2 

Fair 

F 

w 

22 

2 

2 

405.00 

315.00 

41 

2 

Fair 

F 

w 

24 

2? 

2 

4 

450.00 

405.00 

42 

2 

Fair 

F 

w 

29 

3 

2 

7 

540.00 

540.00 

43 

3 

Fair 

F 

w 

25 

5 

4 

2 

495.00 

405.00 

44 

Asst 

Fair 

F 

w 

22 

2 

2 

1 

382.50 

360.00 

45 

1 

North 

F 

w 

25 

3 

6 

$495.00 

$360.00 

46 

1 

North 

F 

w 

26 

2 

7 

517.50 

382.50 

47 

1 

North 

F 

w 

25 

3 

5 

427.50 

315.00 

48 

2 

North 

F 

w 

25 

1 

7 

472.50 

360.00 

49 

2 

North 

F 

w 

24 

'5 

1 

4 

405.00 

50 

3 

North 

F 

w 

22 

3 

1 

3 

450.00 

51 

3 

North 

F 

w 

26 

2 

7 

1 

472.50 

360.00 

52 

4 

North 

F 

w 

26 

2 

7 

1 

472.50 

382.50 

53 

4 

North 

F 

w 

24 

4 

1 

3 

450.00 

54 

4 

North 

F 

w 

34 

2 

16 

540.00 

472.50 

55 

5 

North 

F 

w 

27 

3 

3 

4 

540.00 

495.00 

56 

5 

North 

F 

w 

25 

3 

6 

495.00 

337.50 

57 

6 

North 

F 

w 

21 

4 

1 

1 

472.50 

58 

6 

North 

F 

w 

21 

4 

ti 

1\ 

495.00 

450.00 

59 

'7 

North 

F 

w 

30 

4 

2 

6 

517.50 

495.00 

60 

7 

North 

F 

w 

42 

4 

4 

1 

585.00 

450.00 

53 


TABLE  I«—  CONTINUED 


Years 

Training 

Experience 

I 

1 

1 

1    ' 

m 

3 

m 

0 

_H 

i 

i 

>=> 

3 

V 

M 

9 

+m 

*2 

fl 

&~> 

O 

s 

1 

£ 

o 

o 

1 

§ 

E 

o 

I 

i 

1 

1 

61 

7 

North 

F 

w 

26 

3 

4 

2 

585.00 

495.00 

62 

Asst 

North 

F 

w 

25 

2 

5 

450.00 

337.50 

63 

1 

West 

F 

w 

40 

2 

12 

•  10 

607.50 

540.00 

64 

1 

West 

F 

w 

29 

2 

9 

540.00 

450.00 

65 

1 

West 

F 

w 

25 

2 

3^ 

427.50 

315.00 

66 

1 

West 

F 

w 

23 

1 

4 

360.00 

225.00 

67 

2 

West 

F 

w 

36 

3 

13 

630.00 

540.00 

68 

2 

West 

F 

w 

27 

2 

7 

540.00 

450.00 

69 

2 

West 

F 

w 

23 

5 

3 

360.00 

225.00 

70 

2 

West 

F 

w 

26 

3 

6 

450.00 

337.50 

71 

3 

West 

F 

w 

25 

4 

2 

1 

540.00 

540.00 

72 

3 

West 

F 

w 

33 

4 

7 

4 

517.50 

427.50 

73 

3 

West 

F 

w 

22 

2 

2 

405.00 

360.00 

74 

3 

West 

F 

w 

30 

5 

5 

5 

562.50 

472.50 

75 

4 

West 

F 

w 

26 

5 

1 

4 

495.00 

76 

4 

West 

F 

w 

30 

5 

5 

562.50 

495.00 

77 

4 

West 

F 

w 

24 

3 

1 

2 

450.00 

78 

4 

West 

F 

w 

29 

2 

4 

4 

450.00 

405.00 

79 

5 

West 

F 

w 

24 

4 

3 

3 

495.00 

450.00 

80 

5 

West 

F 

w 

24 

4 

2 

1 

540.00 

495.00 

81 

5 

West 

F 

w 

24 

4 

1 

2 

540.00 

82 

6 

West 

F 

w 

36 

4 

7 

9 

585.00 

495.00 

83 

6 

West 

F 

w 

30 

3 

3 

6 

540.00 

495.00 

84 

6 

West 

F 

w 

30 

4 

4 

5 

585.00 

495.00 

85 

7 

West 

F 

w 

25 

4 

3 

2 

585.00 

540.00 

86 

7 

West 

F 

w 

27 

5 

1 

7 

540.00 

87 

Asst 

West 

F 

w 

23 

3 

1 

2 

360.00 

54 


TABLE  n. 

ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
COLORED 


Years 

Training 

Experience 

d 

S 

g 

^ 

'Sb 

fe 

£ 
"03 

J3 

« 

CO 

CO 

03 

^O 

S 

_ 

i 
H 

fe 

-4-3 

3 

1 

§ 

03 

M 

a 

1 

1 

cs 

jj| 

O 

1 

g 

CO 

§ 

bC 

'o 
O 

1 

1 

1 

1 

CO 

88 

5 

0.  S. 

M 

C 

40 

4 

4 

15 

$446.25 

$382.50 

89 

1 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

38 

3 

4 

12 

297.50 

212.50 

90 

IB    2 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

28 

4 

4 

6 

233.75 

170.00 

91 

1A    2 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

24 

4 

4 

2 

233.75 

170.00 

92 

1A    1 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

21 

3 

2 

1 

233.75 

212.50 

93 

1A    1 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

23 

3 

4 

233.75 

170.00 

94 

2A3A 

O.  S. 

F 

C 

23 

3 

3 

255.00 

170.00 

95 

4A 

0.  S. 

F 

C 

37 

3 

2 

233.75 

212.50 

96 

7 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

40 

4 

15 

382.50 

318.75 

97 

IB 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

36 

6 

4 

11 

382.50 

340.00 

98 

1  &2 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

24 

4 

6 

318.75 

255.00 

99 

3 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

30 

4 

5 

3 

318.75 

297.50 

100 

4 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

23 

3 

1 

297.50 

101 

5 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

25 

4 

2 

1 

318.75 

297.50 

102 

6 

C.  H. 

F 

C 

27 

4 

2 

4 

318.75 

297.50 

103 

9 

D.  S. 

M 

C 

55 

4 

16 

10 

722.50 

701.25 

104 

IB 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

39 

3 

21 

382.50 

361.25 

105 

1A 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

26 

5 

5 

2 

297.50 

233.75 

106 

IB 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

27 

2 

9 

318.75 

276.25 

107 

1A 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

23 

6 

2 

297.50 

276.25 

108 

2 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

27 

2 

10 

297.50 

255.00 

109 

3 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

21 

4 

2 

212.50 

170.00, 

110 

4 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

28 

4 

5 

1 

255.00 

233.75 

111 

5 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

28 

2 

1 

11 

276.25 

112 

6A 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

28 

3 

9 

2 

318.75 

276.25 

113 

8&7 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

30 

3 

9 

4 

340.00 

276.25 

114 

8 

D.  S. 

F 

C 

34 

5 

5 

9 

318.75 

255.00 

115 

1    Bl 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

36 

2 

7 

3 

318.75 

255  00 

116 

1    B2 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

47 

6 

5 

13 

233.75 

212.50 

117 

1    B3 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

31 

4 

10 

318.75 

297.50 

118 

1A 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

28 

6 

7 

340.00 

276.15 

119 

1A 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

24 

3 

1 

5 

233.75 

120 

1    A2 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

23 

2 

5 

2 

297.50 

255.00 

121 

2 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

22 

2 

4 

255.00 

170.00 

122 

3  1 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

21 

4 

3 

233.75 

170.00 

123 

3 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

23 

2 

6 

276.25 

233.75 

124 

4 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

28 

3 

5 

5 

318.75 

255.00 

125 

5 

W.  A. 

F 

C 

38 

6 

7 

7 

297.50 

255.00 

55 


TABLE  m. 

HIGH  SCHOOL  TEACHERS 
WHITE 


Grade  or  Subject 

8 

§ 

< 

Years 
Training 

Experience 

Present  Salary 

d 

2 
1 

CO 

JS 

u 

13 

E 

o 

1 

£ 

3 

126 
127 
128 
129 
130 
131 
132 
133 
134 
135 
136 
137 
138 
139 
140 
141 
142 

Math. 

M 
M 
M 
M 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
F 
M 
M 
F 

W 
W 

w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 
w 

26 
24 
25 
24 
36 
35 
25 
26 
30 
40 
26 
30 
22 
27 
40 
32 
28 

4 
5 
5 
4 
3 
3 
4 
4 
2 

4 
1 

1 
5 

5 

1 
1 
1 
20 
10 
3 
2 
3 
1 
1 
7 
1 
3 
2 
1 
2 

2 

2 
7 
1 
4 
6 
19 
4 
2 

2 

7 

1125.00 
900.00 
900.00 
855.00 
720.00 
675.00 
630.00 
630.00 
630.00 
630.00 
630.00 
900.00 
495.00 
810.00 
1200.00 
1300.00 
630.00 

$990.00 

630.00 
585.00 
585.00 
485.00 
540.00 

810.00 

720.00 
960.00 

585.00 

Mod,  L  

History  - 

Science 

English 

History 

Math. 

Math. 

Latin 

English   -    _ 

Latin  _ 

Com 

Com. 

Dom.  Science  __ 
Man.  Training. 
Printing 

Intr.  High  

56 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  TABLES 

H.  S.  is  used  as  an  abbreviation  for  high  school  in  the 
second  item  of  the  tables.  All  of  the  other  schools  are  ele- 
mentary schools.  Schools,  "0.  S.f"  "D.  S.,"  "C.  H.,"  and 
"W.  A.,"  are  negro  schools.  All  of  the  others  are  white 
schools. 

Under  Years  Training,  "Col."  represents  college  and 
"Nor."  represents  normal  school,  The  State  Normal  Col- 
lege has  been  represented  in  the  tables  as  a  college  rather 
than  as  a  normal  school,  as  the  grade  of  instruction  offered 
there  cannot  fairly  be  ranked  with  that  offered  at  the  typi- 
cal normal  school.  The  salaries  paid  before  1913  are  not 
shown,  as  this  was  the  year  of  the  consolidation  of  Wins,ton 
and  Salem  and  consequently  the  first  year  of  the  operation 
of  the  present  system  as  a  unit. 

EXPERIENCE 

The  central  tendency  in  the  experience  of  Winston- 
Salem  teachers  shows  nothing  surprising.  The  median  num- 
ber of  years  total  teaching  experience  among  these  teachers 
is  practically  seven.  The  median  number  of  years  teaching 
experience  in  Winston-Salem  is  barely  four  years.  The  me- 
dian age  of  the  teachers  is  a  little  below  twenty-seven. 

APPOINTMENT 

The  teachers  are  recommended  for  one-year  terms  by 
th  eCity  .Superintendent  of  Schools,  in  consultation  with  the 
principals  of  the  schools  concerned.  Acting  on  these  recom- 
mendations the  Board  of  School  Commissioners  appoint  the 
teachers. 

In  practice  this  system  has  worked  well,  the  superinten- 
dent and  the  present  board  having  established  excellent 
working  relations  with  .one  another.  However,  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  at  any  time  the  members  of  the  Board 
themselves  recommending  and  electing  teachers  without  re- 
gard to  the  Superintendent,  and  it  is  quite  possible  that  with 
a  different  board  or  a  different  superintendent  the,  board  may 
assume  the  duty  of  choosing  teachers,  which  is  certainly  a 
function  of  the  superintendent.  It  should  be  formulated  as 
one  of  the  rules  governing  school  affairs  and  clearly  under- 
stood by  both  superintendent  and  board  that  the  selection  of 
teachers  is  a  function  of  the  superintendent,  to  be  exercised 
in  co-operation  with  the  principals,  and  that  the  function  of 
the  board  in  this  matter  is  to  affirm,  or  perhaps  in  rare  in- 
stances, to  reject.  If  the  board  has  acted  wisely  in  selecting 
the  superintendent  it  will  seldom  find  it  necessary  to  reject 
the  teachers  of  his  choice. 

The  superintendent  is  the  man  whose  business  it  is  to 

57 


know  how  to  distinguish  good  and  poor  teachers.  He  will  be 
help  responsible  for  the  successful  operation  of  his  school 
system,  which  of  course  depends  finally  on  the  teaching 
corps  more  than  on  anything  else,  and  he  should  be  given 
the  freedom  and  the  responsibility  of  selecting  his  teaching 
staff.- 

The  board  should  be  made  up  of  a  body  of  men  selected 
for  their  ability  to  formulate  large  school  policies  and  to  di- 
rect the  administration  of  a  school  system  along  the  lines  of 
sound  business  policy.  They  should  be,  therefore,  good 
business  men.  They  cannot  be  expected  to  be  educational 
experts. 

One  of  their  most  important  duties  is  the  selection  of  a 
superintendent  of  schools.  To  this  superintendent  of  their 
choice  they  should  leave  those  matters  which  demand  pro- 
fessional knowledge,  and  one  such  matter,  obviously,  is  the 
selection  of  teachers. 

QUALIFICATIONS  OF  TEACHERS  FOR  APPOINTMENT 

Winston-Salem  has  set  rather  high  standards  in  the 
amount  of  training  required  of  teachers  for  appointment  to 
positions  in  the  system. 

For  the  past  few  years  the  rule  has  been  that  no  new 
teacher  is  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  elementary  school 
who  has  not  completed  a  high  school  course  and  had  at  least 
two  years  of  work  in  a  normal  school,  except  in  a  few  cases 
in  which  the  candidates  have  had  a  number  of  years  success- 
ful teaching  experience. 

No  new  teacher  is  appointed  to  a  position  in  the  high 
school  who  has  not  completed  the  work  of  a  college,  normal 
school,  or  university.  The  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  the 
teachers  of  commercial  training,  printing  and  domestic 
science  work.  The  two  other  teachers  in  the  high  school 
who  have  less  than  four  years'  college  or  normal  training 
are  teachers  who  have  served  in  the  Winston-Salem  system 
ten  and  twenty  years,  respectively.  These  teachers  were 
appointed  some  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  present 
superintendent's  administration.  On  the  whole,  the  pro- 
fessional requirements  for  appointment  to  teaching  positions 
in  the  Winston-Salem  system  are  reasonably  high. 

Sixty. seven  of  the  eighty-seven  elementary  teachers  are 
natives  of  North  Carolina,  thirty-two  are  natives  of  Forsyth 
county,  and  thirty  are  natives  of  Winston-Salem. 

Eleven  of  the  seventeen  high  school  teschers  are  natives 
of  North  Carolina,  two  are  natives  of  Winston-Salem. 

Of  the  thirty-six  negro  teachers,  thirty  are  natives  of 
North  Carolina,  eleven  are  natives  of  Fortyth  county,  and 
eleven  are  natives  of  Winston-Salem. 

58 


There  is  little  evidence  here  of  the  process  of  "inbreed- 
ing of  teachers"  or  the  partiality  to  home  talent  that  has 
been  found  in  some  of  the  recent  surveys  of  school  systems. 
It  is  well  for  Winston-Salem  that  she  has  adopted  the  pol- 
icy of  employing  the  kind  of  teachers  desired,  wherever 
they  may  be  found.  The  number  of  natives  of  Winston- 
Salem  and  of  Forsyth  County  on  the  teaching  staff  of  the 
white  schools  is  comparatively  small,  especially  so,  consider- 
ing the  location  of  Salem  College. 

SALARIES 

The  average  annual  salary  of  white  teachers  (all  wom- 
en) is  $500.  The  average  salary  for  men  teachers  in  the 
high  school  is  $1,000.  The  average  salary  for  women  teach- 
ers in  the  high  school  is  $675.00.  The  following  table  shows 
the  salaries  paid  teachers  in  a  number  of  cities  throughout 
the  country.  All  of  these  cities  are  classed  in  the  same 
group  with  Winston-Salem  on  the  basis  of  population,  in  the 
latest  report  of  the  United  States  Commissioner  of  Educa- 
tion. This  is  the  same  group  of  cities  used  in  comparison 
with  Winston-Salem  throughout  the  report. 

The  following  table  has  been  compiled  from  data  found 
in  the  1916  Report  of  the  Commissioner,  which  report  in- 
cludes statistics  covering  the  school  year  1914-15.  It  shows 
the  average  annual  salaries  paid  elementary  school  teachers 
in  each  of  the  twenty-five  cities. 

Eureka,  Cal.  $980.00      Butler,  Pa . $615.00 

Lakewood,  Ohio 907.«0      Columbus,  Ga 588.00 

Irvington,  N.  J 861.00      Enid,  Okla. 563.00 

Hammond,  Ind. 851.00      Selma,  Ala 562.00 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich 764.00      Marshall,  Texas... 554.00 

Ashland,  Wis ...  691.00      Coffeyville,  Kan. 53100 

St.  Cloud,  Minn 682.00      Kranston,  R.  I. 508,00 

Dunkirk,  N.  Y.__          680.00      Staunton,  Va • 492.90 

Laconia,  N.  H 673.00      Durham,  N.  C 492.00 

Burlington,  Iowa 670.00      Hannibal,  Mo 488.00 

Danbury,  Conn 657.00      Monroe,  La 446.00 

Galesburg,  111.  ..  643.00 

Peabody,  Mass. 631.00  WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C...  428.00 

\ 

In  this  group  of  cities,  which  represents  a  purely  ran- 
dom sampling  of  the  cities  of  this  size  throughout  the  coun- 
try, Winston-Salem  ranks  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  in  salaries 
paid  to  its  elementary-school  teachers.  The  average  salary 
in  Winston-Salem  during  the  present  year,  $500,  is  some- 
what higher  than  that  for  1914-15,  shown  in  the  foregoing 
table.  But  the  salaries  in  the  other  cities  during  the  past 
two  years  have  likewise  increased,  and  Winston-Salem's 
ranking  in  the  list  is  probably  not  much  different  from  what 
it  was  two  years  ago. 

Winston-Salem  compares  more  favorably  with  other  cit- 

59 


ies  of  its  size  in  North  Carolina  and  throughout  the  South 
than  with  the  cities  of  the  foregoing  list,  but  with  its  large 
per  capita  wealth  it  should  be  able  to  pay  its  teachers  sala- 
ries equal  to  those  of  cities  at  all  near  its  size  the  country 
over.  The  city  needs  a  minimum  teacher-salary  schedule. 
It  has  within  recent  years  established  in  practice  minimum 
requirements  for  appointment  to  teaching  positions  which 
insure  a  fairly  high  grade  of  professional  preparation  on  the 
part  of  teachers  entering  the  system.  It  should  now  insti- 
tute a  minimum  salary  schedule  which  will  guarantee  to  in- 
coming teachers  a  comfortable  living  wage. 

The  surveyors  of  the  Butte,  Montana,  school  system  rec- 
ommended the  following  schedule  for  that  city:  (Butte's 
population,  according  to  the  1910  census,  was  39,161,  not 
very  much  greater  than  the  population  of  Winston-Salem.) 
For  elementary  school  teachers  who  are  qualified  by  profess- 
ional training  and  experience,  (as  all  Winston-Salem  teach- 
ers must  be)  a  beginning  salary  of  $900,00  per  year  and  in- 
creasing automatically  by  annual  increments  of  $50.00  to  the 
sum  of  $1000.00. 

For  high  school  teachers  the  surveyors  recommend  a 
minimum  salary  of  $1250,00  to  be  increased  by  $50.00  annu- 
ally until  $1400.00  is  reached. 

Winston-Salem  should  not  at  once  attempt  so  ambitious 
a  program  as  this,  but  she  might  well  afford  to  fix  her  mini- 
mum beginning  salaries  at  $500,  for  elementary  school  teach- 
ers, the  present  average  salary,  and  at  $700  and  $900,  re- 
spectively for  women  and  men  teachers  in  the  high  school. 

In  the  negro  schools  the  present  average  annual  salary 
of  $300  might  well  be  adopted  as  the  minimum  salary.  The 
present  members  of  the  teaching  staff  in  the  negro  schools 
of  Winston-Salem  are,  on  the  whole,  teachers  with  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  professional  training,  the  majority  of  them 
having  had  four  years  or  more  of  normal  training.  They 
surely  deserye  an  increase  in  salary,  as  well  as  better  condi- 
tions for  work;  particularly  less  crowded  rooms,  as  suggested 
in  another  section  of  this  report. 

The  white  men  principals  are  the  most  favored  class  of 
school  officers  in  the  system  in  regard  to  salary,  considering 
the  conditions  under  which  they  work,  but  this  does  not 
mean  that  their  status  is  what  it  should  be.  The  salaries 
for  the  three  men  principals  are  $1100,  $1400,  and  $1525,  re- 
spectively. The  salaries  of  the  two  women  principals  are 
$855  00  and  $922.50,  respectively. 

All  of  the  principals  in  Winston-Salem  should  be  men. 
The  administrative  and  supervisory  duties  of  a  school  prin- 
cipal "an  almost  always  be  better  carried  out  by  men  teach- 
ers than  by  women  teachers.  Not  only  do  men  exert  a 

60 


stronger  influence  over  the  pupils  but  they  can,  as  a  rule, 
secure  better  co-operation  and  they  have  less  jealousy  and 
opposition  to  contend  with  among  their  women  teachers. 
Many  men  who  are  mediocre  as  teachers  make  good  princi- 
pals when  they  are  not  required  to  teach,  as  the  principals 
in  the  Winston-Salem  school  at  present  are  not.  In  a  city  so 
largely  composed  of  industrial  workers,  as  in  Winston-Salem, 
the  type  of  pupil  population  perhaps  especially  demands  men 
as  principals,  in  the  interests  of  discipline. 

The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  principals  vary  so 
widely  in  schools  of  various  sizes  that  there  should  be  a  rather 
wide  range  in  salaries.  However,  a  conservative  minimum 
salary  should  be  fixed  at  not  less  than  $1000.  This  rather 
low  minimum  should  not  be  allowed  to  influence  the  increase 
in  the  larger  schools,  where  the  present  salaries  need  to  be 
gradually  enlarged. 

The  principalship  of  the  high  school  is  a  responsible  po- 
sition, and  will  increase  steadily  in  importance  as  the  school 
population  gn/ws,  as  new  vocational  departments  are  intro- 
duced, and  as  the  present  departments  expand.  The  mini- 
mum beginning  salary  of  the  principal  of  the  high  school 
could  safely  be  placed  at  $1600. 

In  all  of  the  recommendations  regarding  minimum  sala- 
ries it  is  intended  that  they  should  be  accompanied  by  pro- 
visions for  increases  on  definite  bases.  These  provisions 
should  be  something  like  the  following: 

For  elementary  teachers  an  annual  increase  of  $50.00 
for  two  years,  after  a  probationary  period  of  two  years  for 
inexperienced  teachers.  After  the  salary  of  $500.00  is 
reached  a  further  increase  should  be  allowed  for  each  of 
three  summers  spent  at  approved  summer  schools  in  courses 
approved  by  the  superintendent.  A  further  increase  of  $100 
in  annual  salary  should  be  allowed  for  each  year  of  absence 
on  leave  during  which  the  teacher  attends  an  institution  ap- 
proved by  the  superintendent,  and  devotes  herself  to  fur- 
ther professional  study. 

In  the  case  of  high  school  teachers,  the  increases  al- 
lowed for  summer  schools  and  years  of  study  should  be  $75 
and  $150,  respectively.  For  principals,  the  salary  for  the 
same  kind  of  efforts  toward  professional  growth  should  be 
$100  and  $200,  respectively.  And  for  negro  teachers  the  in- 
creases on  the  same  bases  should  be  $25  and  $50,  respectively. 
It  seems  hardly  necessary  as  yet  to  suggest  a  maximum  sal- 
ary schedule  for  Winston-Salem. 

HOURS  OF  TEACHING 

In  point  of  hours  taught  per  day  the  Winston-Salem 
teachers  are  well  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  such  well- 

61 


recognized  standardizing  associations  as  The  North  Central 
Association.  All  teachers  in  the  high  school  teach  five  reci- 
tations per  day.  These  periods  are  40-45  minutes  long. 
No  white  elementary  teachers  teach  more  than  one  grade. 
In  no  case  does  a  teacher  in  the  high  school  teach  more  than 
one  subject. 

The  average  number  of  recitation  periods  taught  by  ele- 
mentary school  teachers  is  six  per  day.  The  length  of  these 
periods  is  thirty  minutes. 

There  are  seven  regular  recitation  periods  in  the  high 
school  day,  but  every  teacher  has  two  study  periods. 

On  the  whole  the  amount  of  teaching  required  of  teach- 
ers in  Winston  is  very  reasonable. 

SUPERVISION 

It  is  appropriate  to  repeat  here  the  recommendation 
found  in  another  section  of  this  report.  The  Superintendent 
should  be  relieved  of  much  of  the  business  management  and 
clerical  work  which  now,  in  the  absence  of  a  business  mana- 
ger and  adequate  office  help,  falls  to  his  lot. 

The  Superintendent  is  a  comparatively  highly  paid 
school  man.  He  is  paid  for  expert  knowledge  as  to  the  gen- 
eral management  and  administration  of  a  school  system  and 
in  the  selection  and  supervision  of  teachers.  The  city  can- 
not afford  to  allow  such  an  officer  to  occupy  his  time  with 
office  duties  and  clerical  work  which  could  be  done  as  well 
by  less  costly  help. 

In  one  respect,  the  Winston-Salem  schools  are  unusually 
fortunate  with  regard  to  supervision.  The  principals  have 
no  regular  teachin^to  dp,  and  hence  have  time  for  real  su- 
pervision. Very  few  towns  the  size  of  Winston-Salem  have 
gone  so  far  in  the  direction  of  making  their  principals  (ele- 
mentary and  high  school)  real  supervisory  officers.  A  com- 
mon practice  in  good  school  systems  of  approximately  the 
size  of  Winston-Salem  is  to  have  the  principal  teach  at  least 
one  class.  This  need  not  interfere  seriously  with  the  duties 
of  the  principal  and  it  is  valuable  in  keeping  the  principal  in 
closer  contact  with  the  pupils  and  their  work. 

The  bulk  of  the  supervisory  work  must  be  left  to  the 
principals,  of  course,  but  the  superintendent  should  be  able 
to  get  around  to  the  various  schools  at  frequent  intervals, 
confer  with  the  principals  regarding  who,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  principal,  need  special  attention,  and  occasionally^ 
visit  the  rooms  and  see  for  himself  the  kind  of  work  which 
his  teachers  are  doing. 

TLACHER  RATING 

The  teacher-rating  scale  in  use  in  Winston-Salem  is  a 

62 


modification  of  the  Boyce  Scale.  *  The  scoring  of  the  various 
teachers  is  made  on  this  scale  and  the  rating  is  kept  as  a 
permanent  record.  Such  a  record  is  useful,  but  the  princi- 
pals should  have  a  rating  scale  or  form  to  use  co-operatively 
with  the  teachers  on  individual  recitations.  In  other  words, 
both  the  principal  and  the  teacher  need  some  short  list  of 
items  which  comprises  the  elements  of  good  teaching,  and 
they  need  to  use  this  list  in  forming  their  judgments  of  the 
recitation. 

TEACHER  PROMOTION 

Promotion  consists  principally  of  increase  in  salary. 
This  increase  in  salary  is  often  accompanied  by  transfer  to 
the  next  higher  grade,  however,  and  this  change  is  also  con- 
sidered an  advance  or  promotion. 

Promotion  depends  most  largely  upon  successful  expe- 
rience. While  this  is  perhaps  the  best  basis  it  should  not  be 
the  only  one.  Recognition  should  be  given  to  continued  pro- 
fessional growth  in  both  the  form  of  study  in  the  summer 
schools  of  American  colleges  and  universities  and  study  dur- 
ing leave  of  absence  in  attendance  at  American  or  foreign 
educational  institutions.  Not  only  should  some  definite  in- 
crease in  salary  be  allowed  for  satisfactory  completion  of 
courses  in  a  summer  school  or  during  the  regular  term  of 
some  approved  educational  institution,  but  such  study  should 
be  allowed  toward  qualifying  one  for  high  positions  in  the 
system  (i.  e.  teachers  might  thus  pass  sometimes  from  the 
elementary  school  to  the  high  school. ) 

TEACHERS'  MEETINGS 

A  course  of  professional  reading  of  a  helpful  sort  is  car- 
ried on  in  the  general  teachers'  meeting  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  superintendent.  However,  teachers  should  be 
encouraged  to  do  much  more  professional  reading  than  can 
be  in  any  way  covered  in  these  one-hour  meetings. 

Some  financial  distinction  should  certainly  be  made  be- 
tween teachers  who  try  to  keep  themselves  informed  re- 
garding modern  theory  and  practice  in  school  work  and 
those  who  do  not. 

Besides  the  general  monthly  teachers'  meeting  under 
"the  direction  of  the  superintendent,  the  teachers  in  each 
school  come  together  as  a  body  in  semi-monthly  meetings, 
or  oftener.  These  meetings  should  provide  the  opportunity 
for  some  intensive  study  of  important  phases  of  educational 
theory  and  school  practice.  The  principal  should  be  the 
leader.  He  should  feel  the  responsibility  for  a  definite  and 
well-planned  program  for  each  meeting  and  for  some  prac- 

*See  Fourteenth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of 
Education. 

63 


tical  and  fruitful  results  in  the  improvement  of  the  work  of 
his  school. 

These  meetings  provide  an  excellent  opportunity  for 
planning  co-operative  experiments  in  methods  as  well  as  in 
valuable  reading  and  study.  It  is  through  the  work  of  just 
such  bodies  as  these  that  modern  educational  theories  are  to 
be  tested. 

There  are  still  other  meetings,  in  which  teachers  of  cer- 
tain grades  come  together  and  discuss  the  special  problem 
relating  to  their  particular  grade  of  work.  These  meetings 
should  be  better  organized  and  more  frequent.  Their  use- 
fulness could  be  greatly  increased  by  having  specialists  or 
supervisors  in  the  various  grades,  and  in  the  different  types 
of  work,  to  meet  with  the  respective  groups. 

SPECIAL  SUPERVISORS 

The  city  is  unfortunate  in  having  no  special  supervisors. 
Such  t  supervisors  are  especially  necessary  in  music  and 
drawing  if  these  are  to  be  included  as  a  regular  part  of  the 
grade  work,  as  they  should  be. 

It  is  recommended  in  this  report  that  the  principals 
teach  at  least  one  class.  Perhaps  two  classes  added  to  their 
administrative  and  supervisory  duties  would  not  be  oppres- 
sive. Such  an  arrangement  is  good  in  itself,  and  inciden- 
tally it  would  make  easier  the  employment  of  special  super- 
visors. 

SIZE  OF  CLASSES 

The  high  school  pupils  are  by  no  means  evenly  distri- 
buted among  the  various  teachers,  as  the  following  table 
shows.  In  this  table,  the  number  in  a  parenthesis  indicate 
the  total  number/ (boys  and  girls)  enrolled  by  each 
teacher  and  the  total  number  in  average  daily  attendance 
with  the  corresponding  teachers.* 

TABLE  IV.— WINSTON-SALEM  CITY  SCHOOLS  — HIGH 


Grade 

Teacher's  Name 

Enrollment 

Av.  Daily  Attend. 

No.  of 
Desks 
Singles 

B 

G 

Total 

B 

G 

Total 

11 

Moore 

21 

35 
25 
32 

17 
37 

41 
11 

32 
51 

26 

33 

7 
25 

32 
12 

53 
51 
35 
51 
32 
33 
24 
25 
37 
32 
41 

19 

32 
20 
26 

12 
31 

39 
6 

30 
45 

21 

29 
5 
20 

30 
10 

49 
45 
32 
41 
26 
29 
17 
20 
31 
30 
39 

51 

48 
35 
48 
38 
47 
45 
51 
37 
40 
45 
27 

10G 

Wiley 

10B 

Edwards 

9C 

Whitescarver_  _ 

9A1 

Miller          _     „  _ 

8A2 

Baugham  

8A3 

Wright 

8C1 

Viele 

8C2 

Jeter 

8A2 

Hildebrand       _   ._ 

8A1 

Mahaffey.  

Int.  H.  S._ 

Royster 

*  Similar  tables  for  the  elementary  school  were  omitted  for  lack  of 
space. 

64 


The  number  enrolled  per  teacher  ranges  from  20  to  53, 
while  the  number  in  average  daily  attendance  ranges  from 
17  to  45.  Forty-five  pupils  is  too  large  a  number  for  the 
most  efficient  work  in  high  school,  while  a  class  of  17  in- 
volves a  waste  of  both  in  room  space  and  in  the  time  of  the 
teacher.  The  former  criticism  is  true  to  some  extent  of  the 
classes  of  39,  39,  and  41  pupils  respectively,  and  the  latter 
criticism  is  true,  to  some  extent,  of  the  class  of  20. 

On  the  whole  the  classes  of  the  white  elementary  schools 
are  of  a  desirable  size.  Only  two  of  the  rooms  have  more 
than  40  pupils  and  only  four  have  less  than  20, 

THE  NEGRO  SCHOOLS 

It  is  in  the  negro  schools  that  the  size  of  class  is  a  se- 
rious and  a  pressing  problem,  The  worst  conditions  prevail 
in  the  Depot  Street  School. 

The  following  table  will  show  clearly  the  crowded  con- 
ditions of  rooms  in  the  negro  schools: 

TABLE  V 

Size  of  Class  No.  of  Classes 

10-19  pupils  2 


20-24 
25-29 
30-34 
35-39 
40-44 
45-49 
50 


2 
4 

12 
6 
7 
4 
1 

38 


The  range  in  size  of  these  classes  is  from  12  to  92.  Some 
way  should  certainly  be  devised  to  cut  down  the  numbers  of 
the  classes  which  have  more  than  40,  preferably  all  which 
have  more  than  35.  On  the  other  hand  the  teachers  who  are 
teaching  classes  of  12  to  17,  respectively,  are  largely  wast- 
ing time. 

But  besides  the  poor  teaching  which  must  result  from 
the  overcrowded  condition  in  some  of  the  rooms  another 
most  serious  result  is  evident  when  one  compares  the  en- 
rollment with  the  average  daily  attendance.  A  number  of 
these  teachers  in  negro  schools  enroll  as  many  as  80  pupils. 
It  is  impossible,  with  the  present  teaching  force,  building 
and  equipment  to  put  into  force  the  compulsory  attendance 
law.  The  rooms  could  not  in  many  cases  seat  all  of  the  pu- 
pils enrolled.  As  elsewhere  stated,  this  condition  is  intol- 
erable. 

A  redistribution  of  children  would  probably  be  practica- 
ble now,  as  a  means  of  relieving  the  already  overcrowded 
classe  .  But  when  the  large  bcdy  of  children  now  enrolled 

65 


and  not  attending  school,  is  brought  into  the  school  more 
rooms  and  more  teachers  will  have  to  be  provided.  They 
should  be  provided  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  present  policy  of  segregating  the  sexes  in  the 
classes  of  the  first  three  years  of  the  high  school  is  a  step  in 
the  right  direction  toward  meeting  the  varying  needs  and  in- 
terests of  boys  and  girls  during  early  adolescence. 

CONGESTION 

Tables  showing  the  average  daily  attendance  at  each  of 
the  schools  by  months,  throughout  the  year,  indicate  that 
the  rooms  which  are  only  reasonably  well  filled  during  cer- 
tain months  of  the  year  are  during  other  months  badly 
crowded.  The  general  tendency  is  toward  a  rather  large 
attendance  during  the  first  school  months,  tapering  off  to  a 
much  smaller  number  during  the  last  few  months  of  the 
year. 

The  following  tables  show  clearly  the  decrease  in  at- 
tendance throughout  the  year  for  four  schools.  Tables 
showing  the  conditions  in  the  other  schools  are  omitted  for 
lack  of  space,  but  they  show,  in  general,  the  same  condi- 
tion, with  the  exception  of  two  negro  schools.  In  one  of 
these  schools  the  conditions  are  almost  reversed,  while  in  an- 
other there  seems  to  be  no  general  tendency  toward  an  in- 
crease or  a  decrease. 


66 


TABLE  VL 
GRANVILLE  SCHOOL 

Average  Daily  Attendance,  and  Percentage  of  Attendance  Based 
on  Median  (5th  Month;  Enrollment. 


No. 

1913-1914 

1914-1915 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T  I 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
6 

7 
8 
9 

Total... 
Med  En. 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

Total... 
Med.  En 

126 
128 
123 
122 
124 
113 
112 
106 
101 

106 
107 
101 
105 
104 
87 
91 
89 
82 

232 
235 
224 
227 
228 
200 
203 
195 
183 

80  i 
81 
77 
78 
78 
70 
70 
67 
63 

117 
174 
171 
171 
170 
166 
160 
154 
144 

139 
136 
128 
125 
118 
115 
115 
105 
105 

316 
310 
299 
296 
288 
281 
275 
259 
249 

88 
87 
83 
82 
80 
80 
76 
72 
69 

117 
155, 

97 
135 

214 
290 

75 

72 

74 

165 

198 

121 
160 

286 
358 

83 

76 

80 

1915-1916 

1916-1917 

180 
182 
184 
177 
179 
178 
176 
163 
141 

138. 
143 
134 
132 
133 
130 
131 
122 
99 

318 
325 
318 
309 
312 
308 
307 
285 
240 

78 

80 
82 
80 

78 
79 

77 
72 
61 

212 
216 
209 
196 
172 

154 
156 
148 
142 
124 

366 
372 
357 
338 
296 

83 

85 
81 
77 
67 

173 

226 

129 
170 

302 
396 

76 

76 

76 

250 

189 

439 

TABLE  VTT. 

CENTRAL  SCHOOL 

Average  Daily  Attendance,  and  Percentage  of  Attendance  Based 
on  Median  (5th  Month;  Enrollment. 


1 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

Total... 
Med.  En 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 

6 

7 
8 
9 

Total.  .. 
Med.  En 

1913-1914 

1914-1915  • 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

B 

89 
93 
97 
90 
93 
73 
84 
77 
74 

G 

T 

B 

G 

•     •••  •  '  -~ 

T 

B 

._  -^- 

98 
93 
88 
89 
89 
89 
86 
86 
83 

89 

82 

G 

T 

B        G 

T 

86 
82 
79 
82 
81 
79 
78 
78 
74 

61 
62 
57 
58 
62 
55 
53 
64 
54 

150 
155 
154 
148 
155 
128 
137 
141 
128 

83 
86 
86 
82 
86 
71 
76 
78 
71 

70 
67 
67 
71 
69 
66 
67 
67 
63 

168 
160 
155 
160 
158 
155 
153 
153 
146 

86 
104 

58 
76 

144 
180 

82 

76 

80 
114 

67 
196 

156 

78 

81 

80 

1915-1916 

1916-1917 

104 
104 
103 

98 
95 
96 
97 

88 

77 

94 
92 
92 

89 
80 

84 
82 
75 
68 

198 
196 
195 
187 
175 
180 
1/9 
163 
145 

88 
87 
87 
83 
78 
80 
80 
72 
64 

108 
104 
101 

98 
89 

97 
93 
90 
83 
74 

205 
197 
191 
181 
163 

92 

88 
85 
81 
73 

96 
116 

84 
109 

180 
225 

87 

77 

80 

118 

105 

223 

TABLE  VIII. 

EAST  SCHOOL 

Average  Daily  Attendance,  and  Percentage  of  Attendance  Based 
on  Median  (5th  Month)  Enrollment 


No. 

1913-1914 

1914-1915 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

Total-  _- 
Med.  En 

1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

Total--. 
Med.  En 

175 
176 
175 
163 
162 
149 
161 
156 
149 

211 
205 
215 
193 
189 
173 
198 
182 
178 

386 
381 
390 
356 
351 
322 
359 
338 
327 

84 
83 
84 
77 
76 
70 
78 
73 
71 

204 
187 
192 
177 
182 
179 
161 
163 
166 

202 
213 
216 
205 
202 
198 
201 
200 
196 

406 
400 
408 
382 
384 
377 
362 
363 
362 

83 
82 
84 
78 
79 
77 
74 
74 
74 

163 
216 

194 
245 

357 
461 

75 

78 

77 

179 
233 

204 
254 

383 

487 

76 

80 

78 

1915-1916 

1916-1917 

231 
220 
222 
221 
214 
213 
218 
188 
165 

267 
264 
255 
256 
247 
248 
248 
231 
195 

498 
484 
477 
477 
461 
461 
466 
419 
360 

85 
84 
81 
81 
78 
78 
79 
71 
61 

251 
241 
232 
204 
193 

300 
291 
271 
251 
235 

551 
532 
503 
455 

428 

87 
83 
80 
72 
67 

210 
273 

246 
316 

456 

589 

76 

78 

77 

289 

345 

634 

TABLE  IX. 
FAIRVIEW  SCHOOL 

Average  Daily  Attendance,  and  Percentage  of  Attendance  Based 
on  Median  (5th  Month)  Enrollment 


1913-1914 

1914-1915 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

Average  Daily 
Attendance 

Percentage  of 
Attendance 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

Total... 
Med.  En 

1 
2 
3 

4 
5 
6 

7 
8 
9 

Total... 
Med.  En 

111 
106 

98 
93 
95 

85 
87 
87 
87 

95 
98 
92 
86 
91 
79 
76 
78 
83 

206 
204 
190 
179 
186 
164 
163 
165 
170 

83 
83 
77 
72 
75 
67 
67 
67 
69 

117 
114 
111 
111 
111 
105 
94 
90 
86 

105 
98 
94 
95 
90 
87 
83 
81 
72 

222 
212 
205 
206 
201 
192 
177 
171 
158 

82 
78 
76 
76 
74 
71 
65 
63 
58 

94 
129 

87 
118 

181 

247 

73 

74 

73 

104 
147 

89 
124 

193 

271 

71 

72 

71 

1915-1916 

1916-1917 

106 
112 
113 
109 
108 
108 
107 
98 
72 

123 
119 
111 
117 
108 
104 
108 
103 
72 

229 
231 
224 
226 
216 
212 
215, 
210 
144 

84 
84 
82 
82 
79 
77 
79 
73 
53 

113 
112 
105 
99 
93 

112 
107 
107 

98 
84 

225 
219 
212 
197 
177 

85 
83 
80 
75 
67 

104 
132 

107 
141 

211 

273 

78 

76 

77 

134 

130 

264 

Though  the  attendance  records  by  grades  have  not  been 
investigated  for  the  years  covered  above,  it  is  probable  that 
the  heaviest  elimination  occurs  in  the  lower  grades.  While 
the  attendance  could  probably  be  very  much  improved  by  a 
vigorous  attendance  officer,  the  faults  of  attendance  are,  to 
a  considerable  extent,  due  to  the  prevalence  of  contagious 
diseases  and  minor  physical  troubles,  chiefly  among  the 
the  lower  grade  children. 

Better  care  of  the  children  by  more  efficient  medical  in- 
spection will  lessen  the  discrepancies  between  the  entrants 
and  the  numbers  who  remain  through  the  year,  but  a  consid- 
able  discrepancy  will  probably  exist  for  a  long  time. 

It  is  quite  obviously  wasteful  of  the  time*  of  teachers  to 
have  them  begin  the  year  with  a  normal-sized  class,  and 
continue  to  teach  the  same  class  after  it  has  dwindled  to 
three-fourths,  or  less,  of  .its  normal  size. 

The  two  possible  solutions  which  seem  most  feasible  are 
to  employ  additional  teachers  during  the  period  when  the  at- 
tendance is  largest;  and  to  have  some  of  the  primary  grade 
pupils  attend  school  in  the  morning  and  others  to  attend  in 
the  afternoon,  the  same  teacher  teaching  both  groups. 
There  is  no  particular  reason  why  a  primary  grade  teach- 
er should  teach  a  shorter  day  than  the  grammer  grade 
teacher  does.  There  is  no  necessity  for  securing  more  pri- 
mary teachers  if  by  judicious  arrangement  and  perhaps  a 
slight  salary  increase  the  present  force  can  handle  the  situ- 
ation. 

The  best  plan  for  Winston-Salem  is  probably  a  combina- 
tion of  the  two  plans  suggested  above.  Such  primary  grade 
teachers  as  are  available,  including  substitute  teachers, 
might  be  used  to  relieve  the  congestion  to  some  extent,  but 
it  will  be  necessary  sometimes  to  have  a  teacher  direct  two 
classes,  by  having  one  in  the  morning  and  one  in  the  after- 
noon. 

This  a  more  or  less  common  practice.  It  has  been  em- 
ployed with  satisfactory  results  also  in  kindergarten  work. 

REORGANIZATION 

Winston-Salem  has  made  some  attempts  during  the  past 
few  years  to  provide  adequately  for  the  various  interests 
and  capacities  of  pupils  at  the  adolescent  stage,  by  intro- 
ducing new  types  of  school  work.  Commercial  work,  print- 
ing, and  manual  training  courses  are  being  offered  and  are 
popular  forms  of  work.  But  the  need  for  new  types  of 
work  is  just  now  being  realized,  and  have  by  no  means  been 
provided  for.  The  present  high  school  building  is  crowded 
almost  to  capacity,  even  with  the  work  now  offered,  and  it 
is  extremely  difficult  to  effect  any  great  improvements  or  en- 

71 


largements  in  the  work  with  the  present  building,  equip- 
ment, and  teaching  corps. 

A  new  high  school  building  must  be  provided  at  once,  as 
suggested  in  another  section  of  this  report,  as  a  means  of 
improving  the  teaching  conditions  in  the  high  school.  It  is 
most  urgently  recommended  that  at  the  time  plans  are  made 
for  the  improvement  and  enlargement  of  the  high  school, 
the  establishment  of  a  junior  high  school,  covering  the  last 
two  years  of  the  present  elementary  school  and  the  first  year 
of  the  high  school,  be  considered.  This  plan  of  organiza- 
tion is  spreading  rapidly  over  the  country.  It  is  especially 
adapted  to  such  cities  as  Winston-Salem,  with  large  indus- 
trial and  commercial  interests.  It  is  but  natural  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  pupils  will,  on  leaving  school,  go  into  the 
pursuits  which  the  older  members  of  their  families  are  in- 
terested in,  and  the  school  work  should  be  somewhat  in- 
fluenced by  the  dominant  vocational  interests  of  the  particu- 
lar city  or  community  in  which  the  school  is  located.  It 
must  be  clearly  understood  that  the  schools  are  not  simply 
preparing  more  efficient  workers  for  the  big  trade  and  in- 
dustrial organization  but  that  they  are  indeavoring  to  offer 
their  pupils  such  opportunities  as  will  enable  them  to  make 
an  intelligent  choice  of  a  vocation  and  to  enter  upon  it  on  as 
high  a  level  as  possible. 

LIVING  CONDITIONS  OP  TEACHERS 

The  living  conditions  of  teachers  in  Winston-Salem  are 
far  from  satisfactory.  Complaints  to  the  board  by  teachers 
are  frequent.  Thg  board  should  make  a  careful  investiga- 
tion of  the  living  conditions  of  teachers  with  a  view  to  im- 
proving these  conditions. 

A  possible  solution  to  the  problem  of  securing  suitable 
living  conditions  for  teachers,  which  seems  worthy  of  very 
careful  consideration  by  the  board  is  the  purchase  or  lease 
of  houses  by  the  board;  these  houses  to  be  put  in  charge  of 
a  matron  and  rooms  and  board  furnished  to  the  teachers  in 
them  at  cost. 

This  plan  is  essentially  that  of  the  teacher-cottage  or  the 
teacherage  plan  which  is  becoming  so  popular  in  country 
communities.  Local  conditions  must  be  taken  into  account 
before  instituting  such  a  plan  as  this  anywhere,  but  the 
acuteness  of  the  problem  in  Winston-Salem  at  present  makes 
such  a  scheme  worthy  of  very  serious  consideration. 

PENSIONS  FOR  TEACHERS 

Most  of  the  progressive  cities  of  the  countries  have  es- 
tablished some  form  of  teacher  pensioning  system.  The 
proportion  of  the  pension  fund  which  should  be  contributed 

>  72 


by  the  teachers  themselves,  and  the  proportion  which  should 
be  contributed  by  the  city  (or  in  state  systems  by  the  state) 
has  been  fixed  in  various  ways  in  the  various  cities.  It  is 
generally  agreed,  however,  that  there  should  be  some  sys- 
tem of  pensioning  teachers  and  that  the  pension  fund  should 
be  supported  cooperatively  by  the  city  and  by  the  teachers 
in  service  who  later  expect  to  receive  pensions. 

The  board  of  education  should  consider  at  once  the  gen- 
eral proposition  of  a  c  coperative  pension  system  for  teach- 
ers. The  board  should  determine  what  proportion  of  the 
pension  fund  shall  ba  provided  from  the  public  school  funds 
and  what  proportion  should  be  paid  by  the  teachers  and 
should  submit  the  general  proposition  to  the  teachers.  The 
age  of  teachers  and  the  number  of  years  service  required  to 
make  one  eligible  for  a  pension,  and  the  amounts  of  the  pen- 
sions should  be  determined  after  a  careful  consideration  of 
existing  teacher-pensioning  systems. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

1.  More  direct  supervision  by  the  Superintendent  should 
be  made  possible  by  employing  a  business  manager 
and  more  clerical  assistance. 

2.  At  least  one  class  or  one  period  per  day  should  be 
taught  by  each  principal.     The  work  of  two  regular 
teachers  can  be   handled   thus   conveniently  by  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  principals  without  depriving 
them  of  time  needed  for  administrative  duties  and 
supervision.     This  economy  in  teaching  force  should 
save  to  the  school  system  funds  almost  sufficient  to 
employ  two  badly  needed  special  instructors. 

3.  Appoint  inexperienced  teachers  annually  on  proba- 
tion for  the  first' two  years  they  are  in  the  system. 
Appoint  teachers  for  a  number  of  ypars,  or  for  an 
indeterminate  period  after  two  years  on  probation, 
preferably    the   latter.     Dismissal   will  then   come 
only  in  cases  where  the  teachers'   work   has  been 
unsatisfactory,  and  where  the  Superintendent  has 
notified  such  teachers  several  months  before  the  end 
of  the  term  that  their  work  is  unsatisfactory,  and 
has  given  them  a  chance  to  overcome  their  deficien- 
cies. 

4.  Teachers  should  be  appointed  by  the  Superintendent 
in  consultation  with  the  principals.     These  appoint- 
ments should  in  all  cases  be  confirmed  by  the  board, 
but  it  should  be  stipulated   and   clearly   understood 

73 


that  recommendations  for  appointment  to  teaching 
positions  can  come  only  through  the  Superintendent. 

5.  The  requirements  of  teachers  for  appointment  are 
good  at  present,  considering  the  present  teacher- 
training  facilities  of  the  State,  but  they  should  be 
gradually    raised   until    all    beginning    elementary 
school  teachers  shall  be  graduates  of  good  normal 
colleges  and  all  beginning  high  school  teachers  shall 
be  graduates  of  colleges  of  good  standing  and  shall 
have  done  one  year  of  graduate  study.     Some  pref- 
erence should  be  shown  for  those  teachers  and  pros- 
pective teachers  who  have   received  a  considerable 
amount  of  professional   training  in   schools   or  de- 
partments of  education. 

6.  For  white  elementary  school  teachers  after  the  pe- 
riod of  probation,  a  minimum  beginning  salary  of 
$500  should  be  provided  with  annual  increases  of  $50 
for  the    first    two    years.     Additional    annual    in- 
creases of  $50  should  be  allowed  for  each  summer 
spent  in  study  at  approved  colleges  or  universities, 
for  the  first  three  summers  so  spent.     An  increase 
of  $100  in  annual  salary  should  be  granted  for  each 
year  on  leave  spent  in  professional  study  at  an  ap- 
proved institution. 

For  high  school  teachers,  male  and  female,  the 
•  minimum  salaries  should  be  $700  and  $900  respec- 
tively.    Increases  of    $75    and    $100,    respectively 
should  be  allowed  for  summer  study  and  years  of 
study  on  teave. 

For  principals,  increases  of  $100  and  $200  re- 
spectively in  annual  salary  ought  to  be  made  on  the 
same  terms  as  for  teachers. 

For  negro  teachers  increases  of  $25  and  $50 
should  be  granted  on  the  same  basis  as  for  white 
teachers. 

7.  All  persons  appointed  to  principalships  in  the  future 
should  be  men. 

8.  A  teacher-rating  scale  should  be  used  by  the  princi- 
pals and  the  teachers  in  cooperation,  to  make  possi- 
ble more  clear  and  constructive  criticism  of  class- 
room work. 

9.  A  special  study  of  the  variability  in  size  of  classes 
in  both  the  high  school  and  the  elementary  schools 
needs  to  be  made,   with  a  view   to  securing  more 

74 


even   distribution  of   pupils  among  teachers  and 
rooms. 

More  adequate  provisions  must  be  made  both  in 
rooms  and  in  teachers  for  the  negro  school  popula- 
tion. 

10.  The  present  limited  practice  of  segregation  of  the 
sexes  during  the  period  of  adolescence  should  be  ex- 
tended. 

11.  The  mature  pupils  retarded  in   school   work  should 
be  removed  from  the  elementary  schools  to  special 
classes, 

12.  Careful  consideration  should  be  given  a  plan  of  re- 
organization which  will  provide  for  the  junior  and 
senior  high  school  form  of  organization. 

13.  The  Board  of  Education  should  consider  a  plan  to 
provide  houses  with  matrons  as  homes  for  teachers, 
or  to  find  some  other  remedy  for  the  present  unde* 
sirable  living  conditions  which  obtain  among  the 
teachers. 

14.  The  school  board  should  consider  the  establishment 
of  a    co-operative   teacher-pensioning  system,  sup- 
ported in  part  by  public  school  funds  and  in  part  by 
contributions  from  teachers. 


VI.    FINANCES 


BASIS  OF  SUPPORT 

Let  it  be  understood  from  the  very  outset  that  every  ef- 
fort is  put  forth  by  the  school  authorities  to  give  full  value 
for  every  dollar  invested  in  schools  by  the  citizens  of  Win- 
ston-Salem.  Let  it  be  further  understood  a  so  that  the 
school  authorities  are  very  successful  in  their  efforts.  High 
standards  of  work  are  insisted  upon  and  a  most  unusual 
spirit  of  service  pervades  the  entire  corps  of  school  officials. 
By  careful  planning,  by  unceasing  forethought,  by  unre- 
warded labor,  the  school  funds  are  made  to  produce  un- 
usually creditable  results. 

There  can  be,  however,  no  denying  of  the  fact  that 
Winston-Salem  is  running  a  cheap  system  of  schools  from 
the  viewpoint  of  actual  ccst  to  the  citizens.  A  cheap  sys- 
tem of  schools  cannot  be  highly  efficient  any  more  than  a 
cheap  process  of  manufacture  can  produce  first  class  manu- 
factured products.  On  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  follow 
that  because  a  system  of  schools  is  costly  it  is  therefore  ef- 
ficient. The  truth  is  rather  that  it  costs  considerable  money 
to  run  an  efficient  system  of  schools.  The  question  for  the 
Winston-Salem  citizens  to  decide  is  whether  or  not  they  de- 
cide to  make  their  school  system  conform  to  standards  of 
efficiency.  If  they  do  so  desire  then  they  must  expect  to 
pay  more  for  educational  privileges  than  they  are  now  pay- 
ing. 

It  is  false  school  economy  to  overwork  the  Superinten- 
dent, underpay  teachers,  provide  insufficient  equipment, 
overcrowd  classrooms,  and  insufficiently  supervise  methods 
and  processes.  Temporary  conditions  may  warrant  the 
adoption  of  such  tentative  measures  as  a  make-shift,  but 
they  should  never  be  allowed  to  become  established  prece- 
dents leading  on  to  a  fixed  policy.  In  the  end  insufficient 
maintenance  funds  for  schools  funds  for  schools  like  insuffi- 
cient operating  capital  for  a  business  always  affect  unfav- 
orably the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  finished  product. 

The  discussion  of  Winston-Salem's  school  finances  is 
based  on  the  assumption  that  the  citizens  wish  to  have  a 
system  of  schools  commensurate  nvith  the  size,  wealth  and 
importance  of  their  city.  Any  less  an  assumption  would  be 

76 


unworthy  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  people  in  Winston- 
Salem. 

The  first  question  is,  naturally,  how  much  does  the 
school  system  cost  each  of  the  citizens  and  how  does  it  com- 
pare it  this  respect  with  other  cities  of  its  size.  The  follow- 
ing table  and  graph  answers  the  questions,  the  figures  being 
the  median  figures  for  each  city  over  a  five-year  period. 

Table  showing  the  median  cost  per  capita  for  school   maintenance  in  25 
cities  the  same  population  group  with  Winston-Salem,  for  1914-15. 

Cities  Amount  Rank 

Lakewood,  Ohio $8.25  1 

Irvington,  N.  J 8.19  2 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich 7.11  3 

Ashland,  Wis 6.81  4 

Hammond,  Ind. 6.78  5 

Eureka,  Cal 6.74  6 

Coffeyville,  Kan 6.25  7 

Burlington,  Iowa 5.38  S 

Peabody,  Mass. 5.19  9 

Cranston,  R.  I : 4.74  In 

Butler,  Pa 4.57  11 

Galesburg,  111.  4.55  12 

St.  Cloud,  Minn. 4.54  13 

Dunkirk,  N.  Y 4.43  14 

Enid,  Okla. 4.17  15 

Danbury,  Conn._     4.02  16 

Durham,  N.  C 3.86  17 

Columbus,  Ga. .. 3.81  18 

Marshall,  Texas..-  ._  3.47  19 

Hannibal,  Mo.__  .  3.45  20 

Laconia,  N.  H.._  .3.02  21 

WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C.  _  .  2.84  22 

Selma,  Ala. 2.36  .    23 

Monroe,  La 2.18  24 

Staunton,  Va 1.86  25 

MEDIAN..  _  4.54 


77 


Graph  showing  Median  Five- Year  Cost  for  schools  in  25  cities  of  Win- 
ston-Salem's  class,  and  Winston-Salem's  rank. 


Winston- 
Salem— 


78 


Being  interpreted,  these  figures  mean  that  it  costs  every 
man,  woman  and  child  $2.84  per  year  to  maintain  schools. 
Twenty-one  of  the  twenty-five  cities,  which  were  chosen  by 
lot,  demand  more  money  per  capita  for  schools  than  does 
Winston-Salem,  even  the  sister  city  of  Durham  demanding 
$1,02  more  per  capita  for  school  support.  This  is  indeed 
cheap  public  school  support. 

But,  perhaps  Winston-Salem  runs  its  entire  city  govern- 
ment on  a  very  economical  basis  and  perhaps  the  schools  get 
their  full  share  of  the  city's  tax  money,  The  following  ten 
cities  are  about  the  size  of  Winston-Salem.  The  table  shows 
the  total  city  expense,  the  ratio  of  school  expense  to  total 
city  expenses,  their  rank  in  this  respect,  and  compares  Win- 
ston-Salem's record  over  the  four-year  period  since  consoli- 
dation, with  these  cities.  The  graphs  present  the  propor- 
tion of  Winston-Salem's  tax  devoted  to  schools,  the  increase 
in  this  proportion  from  year  to  year,  and  contrasts  the  in- 
crease in  school  enrollment  with  the  increase  in  school  tax- 
money. 

Table  showing  ratio  of  expense  of  schools  to  total  city  expenses  in  10 
cities  of  Winston-Salem's  population,  and  showing  also  the  per  cap- 
ita expense  for  schools. 


City 

School 
Expense 

Total  city 
Expense 

Ratio  of  School 
to  City  Ex- 
pense 

Rank 

Joplin,  Mo.        _  _  __ 

$120,347 

$226,893 

.530 

1 

New  Castle,  Pa. 

146  035 

296  778 

492 

o 

Racine,   Wis. 

140  916 

337  999 

417 

3 

Oshkosh,  Wis  

107,605 

288,1  4 

.374 

4 

Newport,  Ky. 

80  409 

216  928 

371 

5 

Joliet,    111. 

117  329 

339  880 

345 

6 

Taunton,  Mass.    . 

142,618 

415,829 

.343 

7 

Auburn,  N.  Y. 

1°3  028 

381  455 

323 

8 

Woonsooket,  R.  I 

96,801 

334  744 

292 

9 

Knoxville,   Tenn.  _  __ 

97,215 

316,925 

.150 

10 

Winston-Salem's  average  1913-14  to  1916-17  in  comparison 
Winston-Salem,  N.  C.  $91,312         $476,233  .200 


79 


.2  § 

1  § 
>  o 

2  8 

5  I 

£3  CO 


O  ^2 


a 


O 


80 


Here  again  it  appears  that  Winston -Salem  does  not  pro- 
vide enough  money  for  its  schools  and  the  indication  is  that 
this  is  due  to  its  giving  only  about  one-fifth  of  its  total  city 
taxes  to  schools  when  other  cities  of  like  size  give  as  high  as 
one-half  the  total  city  taxes  for  schools  and  the  great  bulk 
give  one-third  or  more. 

The  third  graph  clearly  shows  that  there  has  not  been 
any  increase  in  the  proportion  of  city  funds  devoted  to 
schools  even  when  the  school  enrollment  has  gone  ahead  by 
leaps  and  bounds. 

Graph  showing  increased  per  cent  of  total  city  expenditures 

over  those  for  1914-15  which  was  devoted  to 

the  schools 


1313-14 
To 

1314-15 


1D14-15 

To 

J315-16 


1915-16 
To 

1316-17 


81 


Graph  showing  increased  per  cent  of  school  enrollment 
over  that  for  1913-14 


1S>13- 14 
TO 

19U-15 


1914-15 
To 

1315-16 


1915-16 

To 
1316-17 


82 


PER  PUPIL  COSTS 

A  fairer  measure  of  the  cost  for  school  maintenance  is 
to  be  found  by  using  the  cost  per  pupil  enrolled  and  per  pu- 
pil in  attendance.  On  this  basis  an  estimate  can  more 
justly  be  made  as  to  where  the  city  stands  in  its  mainten- 
ance of  schools.  The  question  to  be  answered  is  this,  Are 
the  children  of  Winston-Salem,  in  comparison  with  children 
with  children  in  other  cities  of  like  size,  having  a  sufficient 
sum  spent  on  them  for  their  education?  If  Winston-Salem 
is  found  near  the  bottom  of  the  list  there  is  no  sense  in  at- 
tempting to  use  the  fact  as  an  argument  that  the  Winston- 
Salem  school  system  is  therefore  run  more  economically  than 
the  others.  The  truth  will  be  simply  that  this  city  by  com- 
parison is  running  a  cheap  school  system  which,  in  the  long 
run,  will  prove  inefficient.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  Winston- 
Salem  is  found  well  up  on  the  list  it  will  show  how  adequate- 
ly the  city  really  is  providing  for  the  children's  educational 
needs. 

The  next  two  tables  show  the  per  pupil  cost  in  Winston- 
Salem  and  24  other  cities  based  on  enrollmen  and  based  on 
attendance. 

Table  showing  the  median  cost  of  school  maintenance  per  pupil  enrolled 
in  25  cities  in  the  same  population  group  with  Winston-Salem.  for 
1914-1915. 

CITIES  Amount  Rank 

St.  Cloud,  Minnesota $44.22  1 

Ann  Arbor,  Michigan 39. 40  2 

Eureka,  California 37.97  3 

Ashland,  Wisconsin 33.76  4 

Lakewood,  Ohio ! 33.33  5 

Burlington,  Iowa . 32.84  6 

Peabody,  Massachusetts 32.54  7 

Dunkirk,  New  York 31.35  8 

Hammond,  Indiana 30.49  9 

Irvington,  New  Jersey 30.29  10 

Danbury,  Connecticut 30.16  11 

Butler,  Pennsylvania 26.83  12 

Galesburg,  Illinois 26.16  13 

Laconia,  New  Hampshire 25.11  14 

Coffeyville,  Kansas 23.35  15 

Enid,  Oklahoma 21.39  16 

Cranston,  Rhode  Island 21.38  17 

Columbus,  Georgia 20.88  18 

Hannibal,  Missouri 20.02  19 

Selma,  Alabama 19.99  20 

Durham,  North  Carolina 19.91  21 

Marshall,  Texas 16.42  22 

Staunton,  Virginia / 15.87  23 

WINSTON-SALEM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 13.95  24 

Monroe,  Louisiana 10.81  25 


Median $26.16 

83 


The  tables  are  not  flattering  to  a  city  of  Winston-Salem's 
wealth  and  prominence.  Eleven  cities  of  the  group  pay 
more  than  twice  as  much  per  pupil  enrolled.  Fewer  than 
this  pay  twice  as  much  per  pupil  in  attendance  because  Win- 
ston-Salem's  average  daily  attendance  is  so  low  the  cost  for 
non-attendonce  is  proportionately  greater  than  the  cost  on 
the  enrollment  basis. 

It  might  be  mentioned  here  once  more  that  failure  to  se- 
care  regular  attendance  is  a  costly  procedure.  The  second 
table  here  given  shows  this  fact  very  clearly.  Without  con- 
sidering pupil  welfare  at  all,  it  is  not  good  financial  sense  to 
neglect  enforcement  of  attendance  on  school. 


able  showing  the  median  cost  for  school  maintenance  per  pupil  in  daily 
attendance  in  25  cities  of  the  same  population  group  with  \\inston- 
Salem,  for  1914-1915. 

CITIES  Amount            Rank 

St.  Cloud,  Minnesota $52.74  1 

Hannibal,  Indiana 52.32  2 

Ann  Arbor,  Michigan 47.30  3 

Eureka,  California 43.81  4 

Lakewood,  Ohio 41.22 

Irvingto'n,  New  Jersey 40.42  6 

Ashland,  Wisconsin 38.38  7 

Burlington,  Iowa 38.37  8 

Danbury ,  Connecticut 37. 16  9 

Dunkirk,  New  York 35.90  10 

Peabody,  Massachusetts ,34.80  11 

Butler.  Pennsylavnia 32.85  12 

Coffeyville,  Kansas 31.37  13 

Galesburg-,  Illinois 30.72  14 

Cranston,  Rhode  Island.** » 29.50 

Laconia,  New  Hampshire 29.40  16 

Columbus,  Georgia 26.23  17 

Enid,  Oklahoma 26.17 

Durham,  North  Carolina 25.85      -           19 

Selma,  Alabama 25.35  20 

Hannibal,  Missouri 24.46  21 

Marshall,' Texas 22.47  22 

WINSTON-SALEM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 19.50  23 

Staunton,  Virginia 18.30  24 

Monroe,  Louisiana 12.53  25 


Median..  ..$31.37 


The  distribution  of  this  per  pupil  cost  among  elemen- 
tary and  high  school  students  respectively  shows  a  similar 
condition.  Winston-Salem  is  not  spending  as  much  per  pu- 
pil in  the  elementary  schools  and  not  nearly  as  much  in  the 
high  school  as  cities  of  like  size  with  herself,  The  next  two 
tables  give  the  facts. 


84 


Table  showing  per  pupil  cost  for  elementary  school  maintenance  in  25 
cities  of  the  same  population  group  with  Winston-Salem  for  1914-15, 
enrollment  basis. 

Per  Pupil 

CITY  Cost  Rank 

Virginia,  Minn $39.33  1 

Lakewood,  Ohio 31.26  2 

Irvington,  N.  J 29.42  3 

Eureka,  Cal 29.05  4 

Danbury,  Conn 28.45  5 

Peabody,  Mass 27 . 53  6 

Port  Huron,  Mich 27.36  7 

Ashland,  Wis 26.41  8 

Dunkirk,  N.  Y 26.25  9 

Laconia,  N.  H 25.80  10 

Braddock,  Pa 24.02  11 

Ottumwa,  Iowa 22 . 92  12 

Galesburg,  111 21.08  13 

Richmond,  Ind 20.82  14 

Tulsa,  Okla 19.19  15 

Durham,  N.  C 15.76  16 

Barre,  Vt 14.91  17 

Hannibal,  Mo 14.71  18 

WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C 14.07  19 

Coffeyville,  Kansas 13.52  20 

Marshall,  Texas - 12.83  21 

Jackson,  Tenn 11.59  22 

Waycross,  Ga 11.56  23 

Baton  Rouge,  La . 11.20  24 

Gadsden,  Ala ! 10.28  25 


Median $21.08 

The  list  of  cities  used  elsewhere  in  this  study  is  not  used  here  be- 
cause so  many  of  them  failed  to  report  these  items.  Fair  substitutions 
have  been  made. 


Table  showing  per  pupil  cost  for  high  school  maintenance  in  25  cities  of 
the  same  population  group  with  Winston-Salem  for  1914-15,  enroll- 
ment basis. 

Per  Pupil 

CITY                                                                               Cost  Rank 

Virginia,  Minn . $119.44,  1 

Lakewood,  Ohio 76.03  2 

Eureka,  Cal 63.48  3 

Tulsa,  Okla 57.11  4 

Dunkirk,  N.  Y 54.87  5 

Ashland,  Wis 54.19  6 

Irvington,  N.  J 53.39  7 

Laconia,  N.  H 50.70  8 

Braddock,  Penn 50.43  9 

Richmond,  Ind 48.71  10 

Peabody,  Mass 48.03  11 

Galesburg,  111 .'.       47.11  12 

Port  Huron,  Mich 46.05  13 

Coffeyville,  Kansas 45.48  14 

Ottumwa,  Iowa 43. 59  15 

Barre,  Vt 42.82  16 

Durham,  N.  C 39.77  17 

85 


Per 

CITY"  Pupil  Rank 

Hannibal,  Mo „_ .....  36.12  18 

Waycross,  Ga 35 . 17  19 

Marshall,  Texas 34.31  20 

Danbury,  Conn 34.05  21 

Gadsden,  Ala 32.19  22 

WINSTON-SALEM,  N.  C , . 31.41  23 

Baton  Rouge,  La 23.36  24 

Jackson,  Tenn.__- - .-  13.72  25 


Median $46.05 

The  list  of  cities  used  elsewhere  in  this  study  is  not  used  here  be- 
cause so  many  failed  to  report  these  items.  Fair  substitutes  have  been 
made. 

It  is  further  evident  that  the  high  school  students  are 
getting  their  just  share  of  what  money  is  spent.  This  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  whereas  the  city  ranks  19  in  its  ex- 
penditure for  elementary  schools  it  ranks  23  in  its  expendi- 
ture for  high  schools.  In  comparison  with  other  cities, 
therefore,  Winston-Salem  spends  not  only  less  per  pupil  on 
its  high  school  but  gives  the  high  school  a  smaller  share, 
proportionately,  of  the  school  funds  than  is  the  general  cus- 
tom. 

Absolutely,  relatively,  individually,  and  by  comparison, 
therefore,  Winston-Salem  is  not  giving  its  school  system  ad- 
equate financial  support,  Whether  or  not  the  city  can  do 
more  is  another  question  and  not  one  which  directly  concerns 
this  report.  The  fact  must  be  faced,  however,  by  the  citi- 
zens and  by  the  school  authorities. 

••» 

DISTRIBUTION 

The  citizens  will  justly  ask  to  what  purposes  this  money 
is  put.  Why  does  it  take  so  much  money  to  run  the  schools? 
Who  gets  all  the  money?  The  questions  are  fair  ones  and 
the  Superintendent  has  given  the  answers  in  his  annual  re- 
ports. It  is  true,  however,  that  even  after  asking  such 
questions  many  citizens  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  study  the 
reports  and  find  the  answers  for  themselves.  • 

The  city  spends  now  a  total  of  around  $100,000  annually 
for  maintenance  of  its  public  school  system.  The  following 
table  shows  what  proportion  of  every  dollar  goes  for  the 
purpose  stated  in  the  table.  The  distribution  in  Winston- 
Salem  is  contrasted  with  the  distribution  in  25  cities  of  like 
size.  The  figures  are  for  a  period  of  five  years.  For  more 
complete  comparison  the  percentages  are  given  for  the  high- 
est, lowest  and  median  reported  figures. 


Summary  table  showing  the  median  percentage  of  distribution  of  expen- 
ditures for  schools  in  25  cities  of  the  same  population  group  with 
Winston-Salem  for  the  five  years  1910-11  to  1914-15. 

Winston- 

Salem 
High         Low     Median     Median 

1.  Board  of  Education  and  business  offices..  2.6  0.0  0.6  0.2 

2.  Superintendent's  Office 8.0  0.0  3.8  4.1 

3.  Salaries  and  expenses  of  supervisors 6.2  0,0  2.1  1.8 

4.  Salaries  and  expenses  of  principals 10.9  0.0  6.6  10.9 

5.  Salaries  of  teachers 76.3  55.5  63.9  67.9 

U  Textbooks 5.3  0.0  0,1  O.U 

7.  Stationery,  supplies,  other  instruction 

expenses  6.2        0.0        0.5        0.0 

8.  Wages  of  janitors  and  other  employees. -10. 6        3.2        7.1        4.1 

9.  Fuel 6.1        1.2        3.4        2.9 

10.  Water,  light,  power,  janitors'  supplies. _  4.2        0.1        2.2        0.4 

11.  Maintenance,  replacement  of  equipment.  8.9        1.2        4.3        3.6 
U.     Libraries 4.6        0.0        0.0        0.0 

13.  Promotion  of  health 1.4        0.0        0.0        0.0 

14.  Transportation  of  pupils 2.6        0.0        0.0        0.0 

15.  Payments  toother  schools,  pensions,  rent  8.0        0.0        0.0        0.0 

In  plain  English  these  figures  mean  that,  for  example, 
from  nothing  to  two  cents  and  six  mills  of  every  dollar  is 
spent  in  cities  of  this  size  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  Board 
of  Education  and  business  offices.  One  half  the  twenty-five 
cities  studied  spent  less  than  six  mills  and  one  half  spend 
more  for  this  item.  Winston-Salem  spends  two  mills  for 
this  purpose.  In  the  same  way  the  figures  can  be  interpre- 
ted for  each  item. 

Evidently  then  Winston-Salern  spends  too  little  for  the 
expense  of  business  control.  If  it  had  a  business  manager 
this  item  would  appear  in  about  the  right  proportion.  The 
item  for  expenses  of  supervisors  is  not  exactly  correct  since 
the  so-called  supervisors  are  really  teachers.  This  item 
should  be  0.0  and  is  too  low  a  percentage,  The  proportion 
of  money  spent  for  principals  is  very  high.  As  pointed  out 
previously  there  is  no  need  for  two  principals  in  the  Central 
and  Granville  schools. 

The  proportion  spent  for  teachers  is  a  little  high.  This 
does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  total  amount  paid  teach- 
ers is  too  much,  but  that  a  very  little  too  much  of  the  too 
small  total  goes  to  teaching.  This  is  not  a  bad  condition  to 
obtain  in  view  of  the  lack  of  a  supervisory  force,  in  fact  this 
is  exactly  what  ought  to  be  expected. 

One  other  item  needs  particular  attention,  viz.,  item  11. 
Not  a  sufficient  proportion  of  the  maintenance  fund  goes  for 
the  replacement  of  equipment,  repairs,  etc.  This  is  partly 
due  to  the  fact  that  so  many  of  the  buildings  are  compara- . 
tively  new.  However,  as  this  report  shows  some  of  the 
buildings  are  now  in  need  of  rather  extensive  repairs  and 

87 


some  new  desks  and  other  permanent  equipment  need  re- 
placing. 

It  may  be  well,  in  view  of  what  this  report  has  to  say 
about  insufficient  teaching  apparatus,  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  Winston-Salem  spends  nothing  for  general  instruc- 
tion supplies  while  some  of  the  cities  spend  six  cents  or  more 
of  every  dollar  for  such  a  purpose.  More  than  half  of  these 
cities  spend  one  and  one-half  cents  of  every  school  dollar  to 
provide  teaching  apparatus. 

Whether  or  not  a  city's  distribution  of  expenses  corres- 
ponds to  the  custom  throughout  the  country  means  little  ex- 
cept when  considered  in  the  light  of  conditions  prevailing  in 
the  city  under  consideration.  If  a  city  appears  to  need  a 
larger  supervisory  force  and  if  the  distribution  of  its  expen- 
ditures shows  it  is  not  spending  so  much  proportionately  as 
other  cities  of  its  class  for  supervisors  the  total  evidence 
would  seem  to  show  rather  conclusively  that  the  need  is  very 
real.  Again,  when  other  cities  find  it  profitable  to  spend 
part  of  the  school  money  in  providing  office  force  and  a  city 
of  like  size  is  overworking  its  Superintendent  to  get^  office 
work  done  and  spending  nothing  for  such  a  purpose,  wisdom 
would  seem  to  dictate  that  such  a  city  should  provide  proper 
clerical  assistance. 

The  table,  then,  serves  as  a  guide  and  a  check  upon 
opinion  and  upon  indications  seen  at  different  angles.  The 
table  has  value  not  as  a  final  determinant  but  only  as  an  in- 
dicator. This  table  does  emphasize  the  need  for  certain 
changes  in  the  Winston-Salem  system  to  which  attention  has 
previously  been  called  in  this  study. 
•* 

BUILDING  COSTS 

The  accompanying  table  will  serve  to  show  how  much 
the  city  may  expect  to  be  obliged  to  pay  for  the  construction 
of  future  buildings.  Of  course  building  prices  will  change 
from  time  to  time  but  the  table  here  given  will  serve 
at  least  as  a  starting  point.  The  table  needs  no  explanation 
or  discussion. 


H 
D 


!l 

31. 


Cost  Per  Sq. 
Floor  Are 


awdg  aaipo  nv 


j-»e^^iC5a 


smooy  SS^Q  l^ioadg  II     § 


ranuojTpny 


SUIOOJSSTJJQ  {Bn^oy 


— "•<*  o'^ci'cc'o'r-'co'-^"'      10" 


to  —  <  os  »-H  co  co  r^  os  ir^  cc 


luauidtnbg  {.Eot 


-tqoay 


'astptrngfl^^e^^   '  '£    „ 


smoojss'BjQ  jTnosdg  m  t?oay  J 


ranuo^pny  m  saay 


emoojssejQ  jmvpy  m  «aay  Joo|  j 


II  I  SIS 

' 


?o  £!  o  o  §§»  o      § 


0 
" 


(3mq;£i9A3)  «ojy  aoou  r«iox  j  55S2§3S355 


Pup 

Per 


oc  as  o  >o  .-  r>- 


^uaradmbg  jeuoq'Bonpg 


O^* 


-iqory  8uipn[3ui  'Suippng 


SSfeS^gl^iSS    § 


0^  jo  SISBQ  no  looqocj  jo 


SUIOOJSSBIQ  otraspBoy  (un'joy 


Cost  Per  Cu. 
(In  Cents) 


•o^g  '5933  s.joaj 
-tqoiy  Smpnpuj  'gmppng 


^803  I^QX 


^uaradtnbg  |Buoi;Bonpg  jo 


'^uaradmbg 


•013  '^ 
-tqajy  SmpnjDui  '3uipn:ng  jo 


gss^sssssa 

co -H  CM"—  co"—  co  — 


^  t^-  CO  !>•  QO  ?O  C^J  ^H 


OOi^^^r^ooiooiO       t^- 

-  1-1  O  ^  O  O  O  O      •        O 


1 


': 


FUTURE  POLICY 

In  the  light  of  these  facts  what  policy  ought  Winston- 
Salem  to  pursue  as  regards  its  school  system?  Can  it  rest 
content  where  it  is?  Will  it  try  to  carry  out  an  extensive 
.plan  of  providing  greater  financial  backing  for  this  great 
business  of  educating  its  children?  Do  the  citizens  desire  a 
cheap  school  system  or  will  they  strive  to  develop  an  ef- 
ficient system  and  pay  the  requisite  price  I 

Perhaps  the  answer  can  best  be  given  when  the  citizens 
know  what  it  will  cost  to  make  the  system  efficient  On  a 
very  conservative  estimate  (and  it  must  be  understood  this 
is  an  estimate),  the  immediate  needs  of  the  syst  m  involv- 
ing extra  expenditures  for  the  next  five  years  are  the  fol- 
lowing: 

MAINTENANCE 

Present  $100,000  for 5  years  @  $100.000  per  year  $500,000 

Business  manager  for 5  years  @  1000.00  per  year  5,000 

Primary  Supervisor  for 5  years  @  750.00  per  year  3,750 

Grammar  Supervisor  for 5  years  @  750.00  per  year  3,750 

Supervisor  special  subjects  for.  _  5  years  @  750.00  per  year  3,750 

Evening  Schools  for 5  years  @  1500.00  per  year  7,500 

Health  Officer  for 5  years  @  1000.00  per  year  5,000 

Attendance  Officer  for 5  years  @  750.00  per  year  3,750 

Salary  increases  for 5  years  @  5000.00  per  year  25,000 

$557,500 
BUILDINGS 

High  School-  __$250,COO 

New  Grade 50,000 

Addition  and  Equipment    30,000 

$330,000 

Total  for  five  years $887,500 

ANNUAL  NEED $177,500 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  cost  of  new  buildings  and 
equipment  is  included  with  the  immediate  five-year  basis. 
This  is  done  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first  place|Winston-Salem 
is  growing  so  rapidly  that  the  need  for  new  buildings  will  con- 
tinue to  come  along  at  short  intervals  and  perhaps  their  cost 
cannot  be  met  satisfactorily  through  bond  issues.  If  an  end  to 
the  increase  in  school  population  is  in  sight  and  one  or  two 
new  buildings  will  be  sure  to  care  for  any  possible  increase 
then  20-year  or  30-year  bonds  may  be  the  best  policy.  In 
this  case  the  annual  need  will  be  only  $111,000  plus  whatever 
expense  is  attached  to  the  bonding  plan  for  new  buildings. 

In  the  second  place,  the  city  already  has  a  good-sized 
bonded  indebtedness.  Sufficient  bonds  to  meet  the  needs, 
cannot,  perhaps,  be  issued  without  crippling  the  depart- 

90 


ments  of  the  city  government.  In  other  words,  if  the  city 
were  to  provide  sufficient  bond  issues  to  meet  the  new  school 
building  needs  it  might  deprive  itself  of  opportunity  to  care 
for  other  pressing  demands  for  permanent  improvements. 

The  whole  question  of  bond  issues  depends  for  wise  so- 
lution so  much  upon  local  conditions,  variable  in  different  lo- 
calities, it  is  impossible  to  state  authoritatively  what  any 
city  should  do.  It  is  problem  for  the  business  men  and  the 
school  authorities  to  work  out  together. 

The  present  taxable  wealth  of  Winston-Salem  is  $20,- 
000,000  with  4800  polls.  How  much  of  a  tax  would  have  to  be 
levied  in  order  to  meet  the  needs  depends  upon  what  policy 
is  adopted  regarding  the  financing  of  these  necessary  per- 
manent improvements.  In  any  case  it  will  cost  the  citizens 
more  for  schools  than  they  are  now  paying  if  sufficient  funds 
are  raised  to  maintain  their  school  system  at  a  high  level  of 
efficiency.  Exactly  what  the  detailed  financial  plans  shall 
be  is  another  problem  calling  for  careful  and  far-sighted  de- 
liberation. 


RECOMMENDATIONS 

Present  conditions  demand: 

1.  That  more  money  be  spent  for  the  support  of  schools. 

2.  That  these  funds  be  distributed  with  care  in  the 
light  of  prevailing  conditions  in  the  country  at  large. 

3.  That  the  Board  of  Education  carefully  consider  the 
whole  financial  problem  involved   in   securing  and 
disbursing  increased  school  funds. 


VII.    HIGH  LIGHTS 


The  form  of  organization  in  the  Winston-Salem  school 
system  is  not  in  keeping  with  the  size  and  spirit  of  the  city. 
It  is  true  to  tradition  but  lacks  in  the  forward  look  and  a 
broad  policy  of  progress. 

The  supervisory  force  and  the  amount  of  clerical  aid  is 
insufficient.  The  time  and  strength  of  superior  officers  is 
spent  in  attending  to  petty  details  of  which  they  should  be 
relieved. 

The  newer  buildings  are  satisfactory.  In  the  construc- 
tion of  future  buildings  great  care  needs  to  be  exercised  in 
determining  their  location.  Attention  needs  to  be  given  also 
to  avoid  waste  in  corridors,  halls,  etc.  There  is  great  need 
of  repairs  at  certain  of  the  plants. 

Apparatus  both  for  teaching  purposes  and  on  play- 
grounds is  inadequate.  Lack  of  tools  and  poor  tools  are  (not 
conducive  to  effective  production. 

Salaries  are  too  low  and  proper  recognition  of  and  stim- 
ulation to  professional  improvement  is  not  given  the  teach- 
ers. Living  conditions  for  the  teachers  need  careful  atten- 
tion. 

Lack  of  regular  attendance  on  the  pajrt  of  the  pupils  is 
a  powerful  factor  in  producing  and  perpetuating  a  high  de- 
gree of  retardation  and  elimination  in  the  schools.  Very 
little  heed  is  given  to  special  classes  for  the  pupils  thus  an- 
nually kept  behind  in  their  work.  Many  causes  contribute 
to  make  this  situation  very  serious. 

The  negro  schools,  on  the  whole,  are  overcrowded  and 
the  teachers  in  them  are  given  too  much  work  to  do.  The 
working  conditions  in  the  negro  schools  are  far  from  satis- 
factory. 

The  schools  do  not  have  enough  money.  The  cost  to  the 
citizens  and  the  relative  cost  per  pupil  do  not  measure  up 
in  comparison  with  cities  of  Winston-Salem's  size. 

The  city  does  not  spend  a  sufficiently  large  share  of  its 
total  funds  for  school  maintenance. 

The  school  population  is  increasing  very  rapidly,  in  fact 
at  the  rate  of  more  than  one  pupil  per  day,  calling  for  new 
buildings  and  more  room  every  day. 

The  high  school  situation  especially  needs  immediate  at- 

92 


tention,  as  regards  classroom  space,  teaching  apparatus,  and 
playground  area. 

If  the  Waughtown,  Centerville  and  Southside  districts 
are  taken  into  the  corporate  limits,  housing  and  supervisory 
problems  will  arise  calling  for  the  very  best  thought  and 
wisdom  of  the  school  officials. 

The  spirit  of  the  system  is  admirable.  Every  effort  is 
exerted  by  all  to  do  the  very  best  under  any  and  every  con- 
dition. This  spirit  needs  to  be  conserved  by  improving  as 
rapidly  as  possible  the  working  conditions. 

The  Superintendent  knows  that  all  these  difficulties  ex- 
ist. He  has  repeatedly  called  attention  to  them.  He  needs 
more  money  and  a  larger  force  with  which  to  handle  the 
problem.  That  many  of  these  conditions  now  obtain  is  the 
fault  not  of  the  school  officials  but  of  a  too  small  banking  ac- 
count for  the  schools. 


93 


YC  02853 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


